Last month, I wrote 5 Hardest Hits States Get More Money, which described the Treasury Department’s plan to give more financial assistance ($1.5 Billion more to be exact) to the five hardest hit states.
The article gives you the selection criteria, but basically it was a combination of unemployment rates and fall in housing prices. The five states getting the more were: California, Nevada, Arizona, Florida, and Michigan.
Well, after a month of campaigning for their states, five more states have been added to the list and will share $600 million of the $1.5 Billion. The states are: Ohio, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island and South Carolina.
Most of these states had been excluded originally because housing prices hadn’t fallen as drastically as in the original five states. Even though their unemployment rates were just as bad or worse.
But now the state will get an additional $172 million to help you stay in your home.
What Does It Mean For You and Your Home?
The Ohio Housing Finance Agency will have to submit a plan to the Treasury Department about how to use the money. It may take four to six weeks after the housing agency submits its plan before it can receive money.
In particular, the federal government wants states to design programs to funnel assistance to unemployed workers who are trying to maintain their monthly mortgages or provide incentives for financial institutions to modify troubled mortgages.
Just like in Ohio, all the states have to put together a plan to submit to the Treasury Department to describe what they’re going to do with the money. Which means it’ll be summer before you can expect any relief…at the earliest.
What Can You Do In The Meantime?
While you’re waiting for the relief to come, you should stay in contact with your state representative, and write or call the governor’s office. Let them know you’re interested and expect them to develop something that makes sense for the state and its struggling homeowners. Tell them you expect them to work quickly too because every day that goes by results in more people out on the street that they can’t help.
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