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Capital Area Foreclosure Network Funders Briefing |
| Written by Amy Fishman, on July 01, 2010 |
Housing Counselors Help Homeowners Avoid Foreclosure
Funders recently gathered to learn more about the region’s foreclosure problem and the important role housing counselors play in helping homeowners avoid foreclosure. The briefing was co-hosted by the Washington Regional Association of Grantmakers, Nonprofit Roundtable of Greater Washington, Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments and the Capital Area Foreclosure Network (CAFN). The briefing included preliminary findings from a survey conducted by the Urban Institute of housing counseling organizations in the region.
View Preliminary Findings
Key Findings:
• National research has shown that counseling can help troubled homeowners. Urban Institute analysis of the first year of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program indicated that homeowners working with a counselor were 60 percent more likely to cure an existing foreclosure than those who navigated the system alone. For homeowners who obtained loan modifications, counselors helped reduce monthly payments by an additional $454, on average.
In the Greater Washington Region:
o In December 2009, more than 148,000 mortgages (12 percent of all loans) in the Washington metropolitan area were in foreclosure or delinquent. About 25 percent of mortgages in Prince George’s County were past due or facing a foreclosure sale.
o According to a new survey of housing counseling organizations, the average foreclosure prevention counseling caseload per organization increased from 287 to 423 clients between 2007 and 2009.
o The number of housing counselors is dwarfed by the number of homeowners needing assistance. The lack of counselors is particularly severe in Northern Virginia and Prince George’s County.
o The majority of those seeking assistance from counselors are from non-elderly minority households.
o Government is currently the major funder of foreclosure prevention counseling. Only one third of the survey respondents named a private foundation as one of their top three funders.
Visit www.CapitalAreaForeclosureNetwork.org for more information or contact Peggy.
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