HEMAP Program Closed – PA homeowners are left without protection from foreclosure

• The Pennsylvania Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP) has been in operation since 1983.  Since then HEMAP has provided low interest loans to save the homes of over 45,000 PA homeowners who were facing foreclosure through no fault of their own. 

• HEMAP was closed on July 1, 2011 due to lack of funding.  Only $2 million was included in the state budget, which was not enough to allow the program to operate this year.

• While many programs suffered cuts in the state budget, the HEMAP program was not only cut, but closed down entirely. 

• 471,000 were officially unemployed in Pennsylvania as of May 2011.

• The program has paid for itself over the years as loan repayments to the state from assisted homeowners have equaled the amount of state funds that have been appropriated.

• HEMAP also slows the foreclosure process and directs homeowners to non-profit housing counseling agencies which give families a chance to solve their problem even without state funds.  Ending the program will accelerate the foreclosure process in PA.

• HEMAP was signed into law by Governor Dick Thornburgh and has always had bi-partisan support, as well as support of the banking community.

• A new federal program to help prevent foreclosures for the unemployed, the Emergency Homeowner Loan Program, expires on September 30, 2011.  This means that for most of the fiscal year no mortgage assistance will be available for PA homeowners facing foreclosure.

• Foreclosures effect more than the family involved, as property values in the surrounding neighborhood are reduced when homes go into foreclosure.

• Pennsylvania has a growing budget surplus that could be used to restore the HEMAP program.  The surplus is estimated at over $700 million at this point

• The PA Save Our Homes Coalition is calling for $10 million to restore the HEMAP program to protect Pennsylvania homeowners facing foreclosure through no fault of their own.

Pennsylvania Save Our Homes Coalition-
Housing advocates, homeowners and religious and labor organizations

For more information contact the Philadelphia Unemployment Project at 215-557-0822, ext. 102, JDoddsPUP@aol.com, www.Philaup.org