During and after the Great Recession, almost eight million homeowners nationwide lost their homes to foreclosure. While vacant and abandoned homes blighted many neighborhoods throughout the country, tight access to credit locked many prospective owner-occupants out of the market.

As a result, foreclosed properties were overwhelmingly sold to investors, and ultimately more than five million homes transitioned from owner-occupied to investor-owned rental homes. These trends were even more concentrated in communities of color, sending the homeownership rates for both Blacks and Latino Americans tumbling. Indeed, the homeownership rate for Blacks has not recovered.

Today, we face a different housing crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic is wreaking havoc on people’s health, well-being, employment, and housing stability. In this new research, the National Fair Housing Alliance and National Community Stabilization Trust identify best practices learned from the Great Recession and provide substantive recommendations to blunt the pandemic’s impact on homeownership and households of color.

Recommendations

The authors’ recommendations fall broadly into two buckets: policies related to people and properties.

Policies that improve people’s outcomes:

• Increase access to COVID mortgage forbearances
• Give borrowers the post-forbearance options best suited for their circumstances
• Encourage communication between borrowers and mortgage servicers
• Ensure the Homeowner Assistance Fund meets its goals
• Support alternatives to foreclosure, such as short sales, for those who need them
• Prevent the pandemic from negatively affecting consumer credit scores
• Allow borrowers to access new mortgages after forbearance and foreclosure
• Eliminate forbearance penalties that decrease access to credit

Policies that improve property outcomes

• Prioritize homeownership and neighborhood stabilization in distressed and REO sales
• Properly maintain REO properties in all neighborhoods
• Prevent zombie foreclosures and aggressively address vacancy problems

By preventing unnecessary foreclosures and home loss, maintaining access to credit, ensuring vacant properties do not blight communities, and leveling the playing field for owner-occupants to purchase homes, the housing community can prevent the COVID-19 crisis from devastating homeownership and undermining racial equity in housing markets.

The post Protecting Homeownership From the Impact of COVID-19 appeared first on NFHA.

July 9, 2020

Contact: Details Below

How to Get Help with Your Mortgage During COVID-19

Many homeowners suffering financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic may have difficulty making their mortgage payments. Most homeowners are eligible for help from their mortgage companies, but they have to ask for such help. Most borrowers can delay making mortgage payments for up to twelve months by asking for what is known as a “forbearance.” Payments that are postponed due to forbearance can be caught up later by adding the payments to the end of the loan or working out another agreement to repay over time. In most cases, missed payments will not have to be paid back all at once. If borrowers cannot afford their regular mortgage payment after the forbearance ends, they can ask the mortgage company to review them for a more affordable payment.

This relief is required under the federal CARES Act when a homeowner requests it. It applies to all mortgages insured or owned by the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), Veterans Administration, Rural Housing, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. Borrowers with private mortgages may also be able to get assistance from their mortgage companies.

Limited-English-proficient borrowers who need help understanding their options or who want help communicating with their mortgage company should contact a housing counseling agency approved by the US Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD). Certified housing counselors at these agencies offer services at no cost. Borrowers can find a HUD-approved counseling agency with counselors who speak their language here: https://apps.hud.gov/offices/hsg/sfh/hcc/hcs.cfm.

For most of us, our homes are the single largest financial investment we’ll ever make. They provide security for our families, which is especially important right now. We urge borrowers who are worried about making their mortgage payments because of the COVID-19 pandemic to reach out to their mortgage company right away.

The following organizations have made this important information available in Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Vietnamese, Bangla and English: AFR Language Access Task Force, Americans for Financial Reform Education Fund, Center for Responsible Lending, Consumer Action, Empire Justice Center, National CAPACD, National Consumer Law Center, National Fair Housing Alliance, and UnidosUS.

CONTACTS:

English
Jan Kruse, jkruse@nclc.org; Izzy Woodruff, iwoodruff@nationalfairhousing.org, 571-758-7759

Spanish
Agatha So, aso@unidosus.org, 315-751-0283; Nelson Santiago, nelson.santiago@consumer-action.org, 213-624-4631

Chinese
Jamie Woo, jamie.woo@consumer-action.org, 415-266-5712

Korean
Linda Jun, linda@ourfinancialsecurity.org, 331-684-8083

Vietnamese and Bangla
Joyce Pisnanont, housing@nationalcapacd.org, 510-452-4800 x 108

###

About The National Fair Housing Alliance

Founded in 1988, NFHA is a consortium of more than 200 private, nonprofit fair housing organizations, state and local civil rights agencies, and individuals from throughout the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., NFHA works to eliminate housing discrimination and ensure equal housing opportunity for all people through leadership, education, outreach, membership services, public policy initiatives, community development, advocacy, and enforcement.

The post How to Get Help with Your Mortgage During COVID-19 appeared first on NFHA.