Troubled Homeowner? New program to start in January 2011

The U.S. Treasury Department has approved CalHFA's plan to use nearly $2 billion in federal funding to help California families struggling to pay their mortgages.


The Keep Your Home California programs are focused on assisting low and moderate income families stay in their homes, when possible, and leveraging additional contributions from lenders and mortgage servicers.

Primary objectives for the Keep Your Home California programs include:

• Preserving homeownership for low and moderate income homeowners in California by reducing the number of delinquencies and preventing avoidable foreclosures
• Assisting in the stabilization of California communities
• Each of the Keep Your Home California programs is designed to address one or more aspects of the current housing crisis by doing the following:
• Helping low and moderate income homeowners retain their homes if they either have suffered a financial hardship such as unemployment, have experienced a change in household circumstance such as death, illness or disability, or are subject to a recent or upcoming increase in their monthly mortgage payment and are at risk of default because of this economic hardship when coupled with a severe decline in their home's value.
• Creating a simple, effective way to get federal funds to assist low and moderate income homeowners who meet one or all of the objective criteria described above. Speed of delivery will be balanced with fulfillment of the specific program's mission and purpose.
• Creating programs that have an immediate, direct economic and social impact on low and moderate income homeowners and their neighborhoods

Two articles have been published this month with additional information in the San Jose Mercury News and LA Times

You can also visit the "Keep Your Home California" website for more information about eligibility.