Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development Receives National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program Funding

Department will receive nearly $635,000 to help support housing counselors

CROWNSVILLE, MD (April 4, 2012) – Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) Secretary Raymond A. Skinner announced that the Department was awarded funding from NeighborWorks America. DHCD will receive $634,936.50 to support the statewide network of nonprofit housing counselors created under Governor Martin O’Malley’s Home Owners Preserving Equity initiative, also known as the HOPE Initiative. The funding comes from the latest round of foreclosure counseling support provided by Congress through the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling Program (NFMC). Since the launch of HOPE Initiative in June of 2007, DHCD has received over $3.9 million in NFMC funding which has helped over 70,000 Maryland families receive housing counseling.

"Housing counseling is the first step we recommend for homeowners facing foreclosure, and the counseling agencies in our statewide HOPE network have been dedicated partners since the foreclosure crisis began in Maryland," said Secretary Skinner. "This National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling award will bolster the free and professional services provided by these counselors that are essential to helping distressed homeowners prevent foreclosure, allowing families to keep their homes and stabilizing our neighborhoods."

According to a report by the Urban Institute on the NFMC program prepared for NeighborWorks America, homeowners in foreclosure who receive the type of counseling done by DHCD’s statewide network of 31 nonprofit housing counselors benefit in two significant ways. First, a homeowner in the NFMC program is twice as likely to obtain a mortgage modification (saving an average of $176 more per month) than someone who does not see a counselor, and second, is approximately 67 percent more likely not to fall behind again on their mortgages. In short, seeing a housing counselor when faced with foreclosure is far better than not.

More information about the nationwide reach of the NFMC program can be found at www.nw.org/nfmc

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The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development works with partners to finance housing opportunities and revitalize great places for Maryland citizens to live, work and prosper. To learn more about DHCD’s programs, visit www.mdhousing.org.

News updates also are available by following DHCD on Twitter (www.twitter.com/MDHousing) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/marylandhousing).

For more information:

Erlene Wilson
Director, Office of Communications and Marketing
410-514-7704
wilson@mdhousing.org

Rosa Cruz
Deputy Director, Office of Communications and Marketing
410-514-7712
cruz@mdhousing.org

Andy DeVilbiss
410-514-7710
devilbiss@mdhousing.org