March 9, 2011:With one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation, Nevada was selected to be one of the original beneficiaries of the U.S. Treasury’s “Hardest Hit Fund” program. Nevada was awarded over $150 million in funds available to qualified recipients through a series of federal grants to help Nevada homeowners.
The Fund allows homeonwers who are unemployed or underemployed to receive vouchers from the Federal Government for mortgage payments. Upon receipt of the vouchers, the homeowner forwards them to the lender to make the mortgage payment.
The U.S. Treasury has approved the Nevada Affordable Housing Assistance Corporation (NAHAC) to oversee the Nevada’s Hardest Hit Funds program. The agency was selected to create a business plan compliant with the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Program. The NAHAC agency has designed and is executing a plan for the distribution of these funds that has been approved by the U.S. Treasury. Through four programs, Nevada’s Hardest Hit Funds provide assistance that will help prevent avoidable foreclosures and keep limited income Nevada Homeowners in their homes.
– Assist the low and moderate income families to preserve home ownership and avoid foreclosure, if possible, or assist in the short-sale of a home, if necessary.
– Assist approximately 22,000 income restricted Nevada homeowners who are in need of assistance with a mortgage problem due to either an unemployment situation, second liens and/or large principal to home value mismatches preventing timely payments on loans.
These programs are only available to homeowners whose mortgage servicing company agrees to the terms and conditions governing the use of these funds. Currently, Nevada’s Hardest Hit Funds program is only able to offer the Mortgage Assistance Program as a result of strong servicer support. The additional programs will roll out as additional servicers agree to participate making other programs possible. If your servicer is not currently participating in Nevada’s Hardest Hit Funds, you may want to call them and encourage them to do so. A homeowner cannot receive assistance if their servicer has not signed an agreement with NAHAC. See a list of participating servicers and which programs they are currently offering here.