November 14th Is Give To The Max Day

As faithful readers of this blog know, the Minnesota Homeownership Center’s mission is to promote and advance successful homeownership in Minnesota, with a focus on serving the needs of low- and moderate-income families and emerging markets.

At the core of this mission is the belief that everyone can achieve long-term homeownership if they enter through the right door—prepared to make wise, informed decisions for their families.

This year, the Minnesota Homeownership Center is celebrating 20 years of advancing successful homeownership. Over these 20 years, the Center has changed the lives of more than 200,000 Minnesota families. 

The Center provides homeownership education and counseling to ensure that every Minnesota family pursuing homeownership enters the transaction only when prepared and empowered with the information needed to make decisions that will sustain their housing and communities for years to come. We are the central resource for foreclosure prevention resources in the state and provided critical services during the foreclosure crisis.

For more information about our work, visit our website at www.hocmn.org.

If you haven't already chosen an organization or two to financially support during this year's Give to the Max day... we'd love for you to choose us!  

http://givemn.razoo.com/story/Hocmn

Two Minnesota Housing Agencies Receive Expansion Grants

NeighborWorks America invests in expanding services in Minnesota.

On Friday, September 23, NeighborWorks America announced $3.65 million in grant funding specifically designed for nonprofits to increase their services for underserved communities by expanding the geographic reach of programs that have already been successfully established. 

NeighborWorks America hopes this grant funding will help agencies with a track record of successful programs bring their initiatives to even more communities in need. Among the 25 organizations receiving grant funds are two Minnesota-based agencies: Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership and Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services.

The Southwest Minnesota Housing Partnership works to provide a sufficient supply of adequate, safe, sanitary and affordable dwellings for the people of southwestern Minnesota and is a member of the Center’s Homeownership Advisor’s Network. 

Dayton’s Bluff Neighborhood Housing Services provides owner-occupied rehab lending and construction management, homeownership education counseling, financial entry assistance, purchase-rehab-resale and new construction. Both of these organizations are making valuable contributions towards enabling successful homeownership for residents of Minnesota. 

Congratulations to both organizations on receiving a NeighborWorks America grant to continue and expand your good work!

For more information and a list of all 25 grant recipients, visit the NeighborWorks America news site.

$600k For Housing Counseling

Homeownership Advisor Network Members Receive almost $600k in HUD Grants

The Minnesota Home Ownership congratulates members of the Homeownership Advisors Network who have received over $638k in funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). These funds will support the delivery of a wide variety of housing counseling services to help individuals and families in Minnesota improve their access to affordable housing, expand their homeownership opportunities, and avoid foreclosure and foreclosure rescue scams.

HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan stated, “Now, more than ever, it’s crucial that we support these agencies that are working with struggling families on a one-to-one basis to manage their money, navigate the home-buying process, and secure their financial futures.”

In Minnesota, the distribution of these funds will support:

ANOKA COUNTY COMMUNITY ACTION PROGRAM, INC (Blaine), $37,949.74
ARROWHEAD ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY AGENCY, INC. (Virginia), $41,391.11
CARVER COUNTY COMMNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (Chaska), $39,916.24
COMMUNITY ACTION DULUTH, $41,882.73
DAKOTA COUNTY COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT AGENCY (Eagan), $61,882.73
LUTHERAN SOCIAL SERVICES/ CCCS OF DULUTH, $110,899.48
REVERSE MORTGAGE COUNSELORS, INC (St. Paul), $35,983.25
SAINT PAUL DEPARTMENT OF PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, $89,832.47
TRI-COUNTY ACTION PROGRAM, INC. (Waite Park), $35,000.00
TWIN CITIES HABITAT FOR HUMANITY (Minneapolis), $35,500.00
WASHINGTON COUNTY HOUSING AND REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY (St. Paul Park), $62,865.98


Over $150k of the grant awards listed above were granted as Mortgage Modification and Mortgage Scams Assistance dollars that will be used by organizations to provide homeowners information about fair lending abuses and mortgage ‘rescue’ scams. Ed Nelson, spokesman for the Minnesota Home Ownership Center stated, “These funds will go a long way to helping the counseling agencies spread the word about dangerous, and costly, foreclosure rescue scams in Minnesota.”

The Homeownership Advisors Network is the State of Minnesota’s premier network of housing counseling agencies and is supported by the Minnesota Home Ownership Center. Members of the Homeownership Advisors Network are highly trained, certified professionals that provide advice and guidance for Minnesota families as they struggle to find and maintain stable housing.

For more information about the Homeownership Advisors Network or the statewide media campaign known as “Look Before You Leap” that continues to warn Minnesota homeowners to be on the lookout for foreclosure rescue scams, visit the Minnesota Home Ownership Center’s website at www.hocmn.org

In addition to the funds listed above granted to members of the Homeownership Advisors Network, other organizations in MN also received HUD grants:

CATHOLIC CHARITIES DIOCESE OF ST. CLOUD, $44,340.85
SOUTHERN MINNESOTA REGIONAL LEGAL SERVICES, INC. (St. Paul) 45,324
HOUSING PRESERVATION FOUNDATION (Supports National Network) $2.4mm

Filling the Foreclosure Funding Gap

The Good News:
Minnesota Housing announced a $1 million award to the Minnesota Home Ownership Center yesterday during a press conference held at a foreclosed property on Saint Paul’s east side. The award comes at a critical time when federal funding gaps threaten the ongoing work of 74 counselors across the state.

Coverage of the press conference can be seen here (Fox-9), here (Finance & Commerce) and here (MPR).
UPDATE: Star Tribune has also covered us: here.

“We’ve come too far and invested too much in foreclosure prevention across the state to let this funding gap damage our efforts and the infrastructure we’ve built together,” said Dan Bartholomay, Commissioner of Minnesota Housing. “Minnesota has benefited from a strong, statewide network of foreclosure counseling agencies, counseling nearly 16,000 households in 2009, and we’re here today to make sure that continues.”

Here's the situation... the foreclosure counseling network in Minnesota faces an immediate threat to the provision of services, even while facing continued, and in some areas, increased, demand foreclosure prevention counseling. Current funding has been exhausted and the next round of federal funding will not be available until March 2011, pending congressional authorization.

“Minnesota Housing has demonstrated outstanding leadership throughout this prolonged foreclosure crisis,” added Julie Gugin, Executive Director of the Minnesota Home Ownership Center. “Their latest contribution will help ensure that tens of thousands of Minnesotans have access to quality, nonbiased services that will help them avoid foreclosure. Their partnership is critical to stabilizing housing and communities throughout Minnesota.”

With this $1 million award, the Minnesota Home Ownership Center is prepared to work directly with counseling organizations to continue services.

The Bad News:
Center staff has calculated that it will take just over Five Million dollars to cover the cost of maintaining foreclosure counseling services in the state of Minnesota at current levels through the end of 2011.  We'll keep you informed about the fundraising process - and its impact on the counseling network over the coming months. 
 
For now... services will continue without interruption and MN Homeowners that are struggling with their mortgage payments - or think they may have difficulty making payments soon, should contact a non-profit (FREE!) foreclosure counselor TODAY.