Prevent Foreclosures

GOAL STATEMENT

By September 30, 2013, assist 700,000 homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes due to foreclosures.

OVERVIEW

The recession that began in December 2007 and ended in June 2009 was characterized by a shortage of credit, increased unemployment, diminished property values, and millions of home foreclosures. For the vast majority of Americans, their home is the single most expensive and valuable asset they own. As a result, losing a home through foreclosure is often a traumatic life experience that leads to significant deterioration in a person or family’s living conditions, economic viability, neighborhood stability, and opportunities for improving quality of life. Foreclosure prevention and the recovery of the housing market are critical components of the Administration’s broader plan for economic recovery. After serving over 900,000 homeowners in FY 2010 and 2011, the FY 2012 and 2013 goal committed HUD to serving an additional 700,000 homeowners by September 2013.
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STRATEGIES

The Office of Single Family Housing’s targeted efforts to help struggling homeowners via the Loss Mitigation and Early Delinquency Intervention Programs have assisted hundreds of thousands of homeowners who are at risk of losing their homes due to foreclosure. Strategies have included improvements like establishing a network of Relationship Managers as a point of contact for borrowers in need of assistance, or implementing new communications tools, such as texting, to reach delinquent borrowers in the very early stages of delinquency when the delinquency is the easiest to cure.
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MEASURING OUR PROGRESS

The performance indicators in the following table are used to track our progress in preventing foreclosures.

The Department’s efforts to mitigate the foreclosure crisis have been led by the Assistant Secretary for Housing – Federal Housing Administration (FHA) Commissioner – and also extend to its close relationships with Treasury. Contributing programs include the FHA Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) and the Housing Counseling program. The FY 2012 actuals and the FY 2013 Q3 actuals together exceed the two-year goal of serving 700,000 additional homeowners.

Trends for the first two indicators are shown on charts below.