Curtis Jones: Pa. should resume funding for mortgage aid program

By Curtis Jones Jr.

For the first time in our Commonwealth’s history throughout four governor tenures’ of either party the Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP) was closed on July 1, 2011. I am an advocate for keeping Philadelphians in their homes; therefore I am adamant the state reconsider full funding towards HEMAP. By providing services to residents prevents long-term costs to local municipalities, yet the State is being penny-wise and pound-foolish by not financing HEMAP. Losing one’s home, a basic need, becomes a trickle down effect, which applies pressure on localities to have more services with less revenue being generated.

Foreclosures affect more than just the family involved. As a property value declines, it causes the surrounding neighborhood home values to depreciate and decline as well. The State is being penny wise and pound-foolish by not assisting Pennsylvanians with providing adequate funding to the Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP.) Everyday, my offices along with my Council colleagues see the devastation firsthand of homeowner’s facing foreclosure. At times, we are our constituents’ first call and/or visit regarding their distress. HEMAP is the real deal, as featured April 25 in the Wall Street Journal’s Marketwatch “as the program that works!” Although this spring we were able to enact and distribute mortgage-assisting funds locally via a federal program, the Emergency Homeowner Loan program, to help prevent foreclosures for the unemployed and underemployed, this program’s funds will expire on Sept. 30, 2011. This means that for most of the upcoming fiscal year our state will be without a mortgage assistance program available for Pennsylvania homeowners facing foreclosure. Where will our neighbors turn to for help?

Last year, according to the Labor Department and RealtyTrac data Pennsylvania had the 26th highest unemployment rate of 8.7 percent, yet the 37th-highest foreclosure rate of 0.93 percent, could our HEMAP program be the reason for the difference? The Pennsylvania Homeowner’s Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP) was signed into law by Republican Governor Dick Thornburgh in 1983 and has always had bi-partisan support, as well as support of the banking community. Since its enactment, HEMAP has provided low interest loans to save the homes of over 45,000 Pennsylvanians who were facing foreclosure through no fault of their own. Moreover, 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 were appropriated.

HEMAP has been a part of our Commonwealth’s history since 1983 and I strongly urge the State to re-evaluate this decision and its affects. I will continue to be an advocate for keeping citizens in their homes, especially through our difficult economic times with a current unemployment rate of 9.2 percent, according to the United States Department of Labor. As always, you can depend on me to address our issues and needs to local, state and federal governing bodies as well as join my fellow neighbors and Council colleagues in activism to fight against this travesty. For the record, and to be clear, I am in full support of HEMAP being re-enacted to full restoration of $10 million by the state and I encourage others to do the same. To take action, sign the on-line petition at www.PAsaveourhomes.org.

Curtis Jones Jr. is a member of the Philadelphia City Council.