Foreclosure Properties – More Help for Ohio

An additional one million dollars have been given to a group of eleven non-profit organizations, which are helping families in Ohio avoid foreclosure by providing them no-interest loans, by the state.

In the state that is one of the hardest hit in the country’s foreclosure crisis, these groups have given more than five hundred families interest free loans of $3,000-$5,000 to help keep them their foreclosure properties. With the ongoing mortgage crisis, this is a welcome step.
The loans these organizations provide are targeted at middle class and low income families facing foreclosure proceedings. The fact that these organizations have helped keep 515 families united with their houses is truly commendable, but fact also remains that this is a small percentage of those looking for help.
Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland’s executive director, Lou Tisler, said that this being a start, more tools are required to get out of the crisis.
The Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland is one of the eleven organizations that together form the Neighborworks Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Initiative. They dispense the funds from two separate sources, one targets owners whose incomes in comparison with the median income in their community are below or equal to 65%; and the other caters to owners whose incomes are in between 65-115% of the community median.
An additional one million dollars that the state has given through the Office of Housing and Community Partnerships in the Ohio Department of Development is for the program that provides low income homeowners with $3,000 loans. Since inception in 2006, with the state’s funding of $1.5 million the program helped 400 homeowners.
Ohio Housing Finance Agency’s program targets middle class families and is in its 2nd year of a $3.1 million stream of state funding that has a 3 year period. This program provides up-to $5,000 loans and has helped 115 homeowners save their homes.