Mortgage hardship program offers relief

By KATHY URSPRUNG
The Dalles Chronicle

Homeowners in Hood River, Wasco and Sherman counties who have experienced recent economic hardship due to unemployment or significant income loss may be eligible for financial help to pay their mortgages.

“Statewide, Oregon is one of 17 states awarded funding from the U.S. Treasury Department,” explained David Peters, project director of the Oregon Homeownership Stabilization Initiative of Columbia Cascade Housing. Columbia Cascade is the program’s intake agency in Wasco, Sherman and Hood River counties.

“Our goal is just to get people in the program,” said John Hutchinson, a grant writer for Columbia Cascade.

Under the program, the state will pay the mortgages of selected applicants for as long as a year, up to $20,000 maximum. The application period starts today and continues through Jan. 14, 2011.

Oregon is using about half of its $225 million allotment from the Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund to provide mortgage payment assistance. Based on foreclosure and unemployment rates, 16 of Oregon’s 36 counties fall into the Treasury’s Hardest Hit category, while an equal number fall into the category Housing Distressed. A majority of that group meet both designations. Washington did not receive the Hardest Hit funding.

 “The 18 worst-hit counties in unemployment and foreclosures are selected to get 80 percent of the money,” Peters noted, but homeowners in other counties are also eligible. “I think we get at least our fair share.”

Homeowners in the three Mid-Columbia counties should receive flyers in the mail next week providing information about the program. Information will also go out in newspaper and radio advertisements.

Some 5,000 people are expected to qualify for mortgage aid under the program, while many more will be expected to apply. Those who qualify based on income and several other factors will become part of a lottery drawing for the available assistance.

Income qualification is based on 120 percent of Oregon’s median income, starting with $51,960 per year for a single-person household and increasing to $97,920 for an eight-person household.

“It’s pretty wide-open,” Peters said.

A complete list of eligibility criteria is available online at www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org. Other key criteria include:

n the homeowner’s current first mortgage must date before Jan. 1, 2009;

n the homeowner must have a verifiable loss of income of 25 percent or more due to involuntary unemployment or underemployment.

Homeowners also can’t currently be in foreclosure, unless the bank agrees to drop the home out of foreclosure in a timely manner.

Mortgage payment assistance comes in the form of a five-year, forgivable, interest-free, non-recourse loan. Oregon Homeownership Stabilization Initiative will defer payments and forgive 20 percent of the balance each year. If the homeowner sells or refinances his or her home within five years and has an equity, some of the assistance may have to be repaid.

The application for mortgage payment assistance is available as of today online at www.oregonhomeownershiphelp.org. There’s also a simple screening tool on the website to help homeowners determine whether they are eligible.

People who need more information or help with the application, or those who don’t have access to a computer, may contact Peters at Columbia Cascade Housing by calling 877-503-6127.

“Come to us and we’ll help,” Peters said.