WHAT IS AFFORDABLE HOUSING

From the HUD website:

"The generally accepted definition of affordability is for a household to pay no more than 30 percent of its annual income on housing. Families who pay more than 30 percent of their income for housing are considered cost burdened and may have difficulty affording necessities such as food, clothing, transportation and medical care. An estimated 12 million renter and homeowner households now pay more then 50 percent of their annual incomes for housing, and a family with one full-time worker earning the minimum wage cannot afford the local fair-market rent for a two-bedroom apartment anywhere in the United States. The lack of affordable housing is a significant hardship for low-income households preventing them from meeting their other basic needs, such as nutrition and healthcare, or saving for their future and that of their families."

I bring this up due to my work yesterday as a volunteer lawyer for the Nassau County Bar Association Mortgage Foreclosure Clinic.

NEW YORK UNEMPLOYMENT AND FORECLOSURE - EHLP

Another reason why a claimant may want to attend the mortgage foreclosure clinics at the Nassau County Bar Association (or other bar association clinics) is to be educated about the following:

HUD Emergency Homeowners' Loan Program (EHLP):

"The EHLP is designed to provide mortgage payment relief to eligible homeowners experiencing a drop in income of at least 15% directly resulting from involuntary unemployment or underemployment due to adverse economic conditions and/or a medical emergency."

I am advised that New york was allocated approximately $112,000,000 under this.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND FORECLOSURE - HAUP

Whenever a claimant contacts me regarding the litigation of their claim for benefits, one of the questions I ask them is if their home is at risk for foreclosure. I also suggest the mortgage foreclosure clinics at the Nassau County Bar Association. To be honest, very few are willing to attend the clinic at this early stage but it is important, at least with respect to HAUP:

"The Home Affordable Unemployment Program (UP) provides servicers with the flexibility to provide assistance to borrowers whose hardship is related to unemployment and is a supplemental program to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). Specifically, UP requires servicers to grant qualified unemployed borrowers a forbearance period during which a borrower's monthly mortgage payment may be reduced or suspended prior to considering such borrowers for HAMP."