ACTION-Housing

The Program Serves a Population with Great Needs:
More than 1,585 individuals were served in 2008 with mortgage-related programs, and the agency expects to serve more than 2,000 in 2009. Services range from an emergency “hotline” for homeowners in crisis, to a variety of loan and mortgage mitigation initiatives to avoid foreclosure, to providing access to and referrals to safe and affordable housing options when foreclosure is deemed unavoidable, and to the development of community-wide responses to address larger scale foreclosure issues. Programs are open to all Allegheny County residents facing foreclosure. African Americans represent approximately 12% of homeowners in the region, but approximately 23% of the agency's mortgage assistance program clients--33% of existing clients are single heads of household. The still growing foreclosure crisis affects mostly households with incomes ranging from $22,500 to $42,500 and disproportionately affects neighborhoods with moderately high home ownership rates and high concentrations of low income and minority residents. United Way funds are used to support families living at or below 250% of the federal poverty level--more than 80% of existing clients fall within that income range. United Way funding also helps to retain staff needed to continue this work and allow the agency to expand its housing counseling programs by 33% and pursue the development of community-wide responses.

The Program Achieves Measurable Results:
Of 1,585 homeowners receiving foreclosure counseling in 2008:

• 1,000 individuals received immediate counseling sessions of up to 30 minutes and were referred to appropriate resources;
• 130 homeowners with short term barriers to addressing their mortgage received financing to forestall foreclosure until they could get back on their feet; and
• During the first nine months of a newly developed program for mortgage mitigation, 28% of homeowners served received an affordable loan mitigation, and 37% are continuing counseling.

The Program Utilizes A Sound Approach:
The comprehensive array of program services offered by the agency allows them to effectively and efficiently serve homeowners at any stage of their housing crisis, even if the necessary outcome is that the homeowner enters into foreclosure. The agency has also been a key figure in developing innovative community-wide responses in the past (such as the creation of the statewide Homeowners Emergency Assistance Program) and is actively pursuing new options through this foreclosure crisis. The agency's past successes in this arena have established them as a respected leader on the issue in Pennsylvania and across the country.

The Proposal is Aligned with Preferred Outcomes:
This program aligns with the following preferred RFP outcome:

• Prevent Homelessness
  • 699 (75%) of participants that can be tracked through the agency's data system will either successfully receive financing to assist them in avoiding foreclosure during a short term crisis (such as loss of employment) or will successfully make alternative payment arrangements.