Minnesota Housing Commissioner Tim Marx and Commerce Commissioner Glenn Wilson announced $500,000 of additional state funding for a new foreclosure prevention effort that will assist neighborhoods and communities most affected by the recent dramatic increase in foreclosures. The funds will be transferred from the Real Estate Education, Research and Recovery Fund at the Department of Commerce to Minnesota Housing which will administer the new funds. The Real Estate Recovery Fund is funded by real estate license fees and is used, in part, to help pay consumer claims against a licensee.
“We need to reach out to homeowners before they are in trouble and before they lose they lose their home,” said Tim Marx, Minnesota Housing Commissioner. “We can now map exactly where the bulk of existing sub-prime mortgages are located and use predictive models to identify areas where residents have credit scores that indicate they may be in jeopardy of losing their homes.
The early intervention program will focus on four areas: Identify target areas where homeowners are at greater risk of foreclosure; conduct outreach by hosting community meetings, targeted public information campaigns, telephone contact and door-to-door personal contact; coordinating information and referral systems; increasing access to and response time of foreclosure prevention counseling.
“There is clearly a link between providing foreclosure prevention education and counseling and the success rate for avoiding foreclosure,” said Marx. “This requires proactive measures and we believe this early intervention approach will save families from the devastating effects of foreclosure.”
The Minnesota REALTORS Association supports the transfer and Chris Galler, Minnesota REALTORS Senior Vice President, Administration and Public Affairs, will serve on a steering committee to advise Minnesota Housing on the use of the funds. “This is a good use of funds generated from Realtors, as we want our customers to be successful long-term homeowners,” said Galler.
A steering committee was also announced today that will advise the agency on the design and ongoing implementation of the project. The committee includes a representative from the Minnesota Bankers Association; Chris Galler, Minnesota REALTORS; Warren Hanson, Greater Minnesota Housing Fund; Shawn Huckelby, Emerging Markets Homeownership Initiative; Jacqueline G. King, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; Juan Linares, East Side Neighborhood Development Corporation; Jerry Moore, Jordan Area Community Council; Elizabeth Ryan, City of Minneapolis; Daniel R. Tyson, Best & Flanagan LLP law firm.
Commissioner Marx will highlight this announcement in testimony on the Effect of the Foreclosure Crisis on Twin Cities Communities and Neighborhoods before the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services field hearing tonight at 6:00 pm at the Minneapolis Public Library. The funding is in addition to ongoing homeownership counseling and foreclosure prevention efforts funded by Minnesota Housing with state appropriated resources. In 2007, the Minnesota legislature appropriated $1.7 million for foreclosure prevention and homeownership counseling. Homeowners who need foreclosure prevention assistance should call the Home Ownership Center at (651)659-9336.
Minnesota Housing, officially known as the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency, is a state agency that finances and advances affordable housing opportunities for low and moderate income Minnesotans to enhance quality of life and foster strong communities. Minnesota Housing invests over $1.3 billion in affordable housing each biennium. If it were ranked among metro commercial banks, it would be the sixth largest bank, with total Agency-wide assets of $2.9 billion as of June 30, 2006. For more information, please visit www.mhfa.state.mn.us.
Source: MultifamilyBiz.com