State of Oregon Offers New Hardest Hit Programs for Struggling Homeowners

By Hope Del Carlo

Oregon’s Homeownership Stabilization Initiative (“OHSI”) has rolled out three new programs designed to help financially-strapped Oregonians keep their homes.  OHSI is a program of Oregon Department of Housing and Community Services, and is funded by the Hardest Hit Funds administered by the U.S. Treasury Department.

Together the three new benefits are known as the Loan Preservation Program. They consist of:

  1. Preservation Benefit: payment assistance to borrowers who can afford to pay their mortgages after a financial hardship. Through this program, OHSI provides five-year, forgivable loans of up to $40,000 to reinstate delinquent first-lien mortgages. OHSI makes the payments directly to loan servicers.
  2. Property Tax Benefit: assists homeowners who own their homes outright (without a mortgage) and can pay their taxes going forward, but are delinquent on taxes due to a hardship. The program can provide a maximum benefit up to $40,000, paid to the county to bring taxes current.
  3. Reverse Mortgage Benefit: available to homeowners who are in default on a reverse mortgage due to unpaid property charges (such as taxes, insurance and homeowner’s association fees) that were advanced by their lender. The benefit can provide up to $40,000, paid directly to the reverse mortgage servicer, to cure such delinquencies.

For each of these programs, the funds provided are in the form of a five-year, forgivable loan secured by the home.

Slots become available for these programs on a rolling basis; borrowers seeking to apply should visit OHSI’s website for more information, including referrals to housing counseling agencies for assistance in accessing the programs.  OHSI’s website is found at http://www.oregonhomeownerhelp.org.