At a media event in Tallahassee Tuesday, leaders from the Florida Housing Finance Corporation (Florida Housing) unveiled the Hardest-Hit Fund (HHF) programs to help unemployment or underemployed Floridians struggling to pay their mortgages.
Starting at 9 am Monday, April 18, Floridians will be able to apply to enter the loan programs through a website set up by Florida Housing.
Drawing on the federal government, whichis backing the HHF programs in Florida and similar programs in 17 other states and the District of Columbia, these programs have received $7.6 billion in federal funds, including monies in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Florida has received more than $1 billion in these monies.
Were now in the position to offer this financial assistance statewide to the people out there who are desperately struggling to stay in their homes, said Steve Auger, who serves as the executive director of Florida Housing.
Florida Housing had set up a pilot program in Lee County which generated more than 1,000 applicants. Between the pilot program and consulting with Gov. Rick Scotts office, Florida Housing changed the details of its original plan for the HHF programs.
The Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program (UMAP) will provide Florida homeowners up to $12,000 over as long as six months for mortgage payments and accompanying expenses, including taxes and insurances. Homeowners taking part in UMAP will pay 25 percent of their monthly incomes, with a minimum of $70 a month. Initially, UMAP was set to run for 18 months and cover as much as $35,000 in expenses.
Also under the HHF umbrella will be the Mortgages Loan Reinstatement Payment Program (MLRP), which would grant as much as $6,000 to homeowners with past-due mortgages if the homeowner can show the ability to resume making mortgage payments on his/her own. Unused funds from the UMAP can be used by a homeowner under the MLRP.
The loans can be paid off over a five-year period with no interest.
These changes could allow Florida Housing to provide financial assistance to nearly 40,000 homeowners statewide -- twice as many as we previously estimated could be helped, said David Westcott, the director of homeownership programs at Florida Housing. Most importantly, the need for this program continues to grow and we want to assist as many homeowners as possible. These changes could allow Florida Housing to provide financial assistance to nearly 40,000 homeowners statewide -- twice as many as we previously estimated could be helped.
Asked about how long Floridians who have applied will wait for a response, Westcott said the minimum time frame would be two to three weeks, but noted that this assumed that the application was complete. Otherwise, he said, it would take longer.
For the homeowners who qualify, this temporary relief from their mortgage payments will provide some breathing room so they can focus on being re-employed at a level that will allow them to resume making payments on their own, said Auger.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (85) 727-0859.
