NeighborWorks America Sponsors Boston-Area Foreclosure Prevention Workshop
Event offers homeowners opportunity to sit down with nonprofit counselors and mortgage lenders
Boston, MA – August 14, 2008 – (RealEstateRama) — Today NeighborWorks America is bringing its national foreclosure prevention campaign to Boston-area homeowners in partnership with the HOPE NOW Alliance, the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. Homeowners facing foreclosure or struggling to pay their mortgages will have the opportunity to meet with 40 nonprofit foreclosure counselors and work directly with 20 national mortgage lenders. This is the 16th event that NeighborWorks has held nationwide along with lenders that are part of the HOPE NOW Alliance.
Foreclosure counselors from Massachusetts and Rhode Island nonprofit organizations that are part of the NeighborWorks network, along with other local nonprofits, will meet one-on-one with homeowners who may be facing foreclosure at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., from 1:00 p.m.-8:00 p.m. The most recent industry data show there were more than 6,500 foreclosure filings in Massachusetts in May 2008.
“For families facing foreclosure, nothing is worse than doing nothing,” said Ken Wade, CEO of NeighborWorks America. “Today’s workshop connects homeowners at risk of foreclosure with skilled foreclosure prevention counselors who can help families understand their options and identify steps they can take to help save their home. Many will be able to work directly with their lender or servicer on-site to obtain an immediate workout solution.”
NeighborWorks has been helping homeowners across the nation avoid foreclosure through its network of nonprofit housing organizations that offer homeownership and foreclosure intervention counseling; public education campaign promoting the Homeownership Preservation Foundation’s HOPE Hotline (1-888-995-HOPE); participation in the Administration’s HOPE NOW Alliance; and administration of the National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling program, distributing over $130 million in grants to state housing finance agencies, HUD-approved counseling intermediaries, and local nonprofit counseling agencies to date. In FY 2009, NeighborWorks America will receive an additional $180 million dollars through the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to increase the availability of foreclosure-prevention counseling and assistance. In the first six months of 2008, more than 18,000 Massachusetts homeowners called the HOPE Hotline, and more than 5,000 of those homeowners received foreclosure counseling.
For more information about the foreclosure prevention workshop or housing and foreclosure counseling programs in New England, please contact Chris Harper-Fahey, 617-585-5031 or cfahey (at) nw (dot) org.
About NeighborWorks America
NeighborWorks America creates opportunities for people to improve their lives and strengthen their communities by providing access to homeownership and to safe and affordable rental housing. Since 1991, we have assisted nearly 1.2 million low- to moderate-income families with their housing needs. Much of our success is achieved through our support of the NeighborWorks network ― more than 230 community development organizations working in more than 4,400 urban, suburban and rural communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. In the last five years, NeighborWorks organizations have generated more than $15 billion in reinvestment in these communities. NeighborWorks America is the nation’s leading trainer of community development and affordable housing professionals. www.nw.org.
