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Senate Bill 850 Jeopardizes Funding for Pennsylvania
Mortgage Assistance Program

The Senate Republican Budget Proposal puts in jeopardy much needed mortgage assistance for homeowners struggling to pay the costs of maintaining home ownership during this drastic economic crisis.

The Pennsylvania Homeowners Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP), a program that was initiated during the deep recession of 1983, assists homeowners in preventing foreclosure by loaning funds to the unemployed to pay their mortgages until they are able to stabilize their finances. Since 1983, HEMAP has helped over 40,000 Pennsylvania families.

HEMAP is currently woefully underfunded due to the rising numbers of foreclosures. Last year, the state appropriation for HEMAP was $11 million and had to be supplemented with an additional $5 million when funds began to run low. The governor’s current budget proposal calls for an $11 million appropriation. The proposed Senate Republican budget cuts that appropriation to $10 million.

This is simply not enough. We should be adding funding to this valuable program, not cutting much needed dollars.

Layoffs have become a huge part of reality for many Pennsylvanians due to the current economic downturn facing the nation. Unemployment in Pennsylvania is at around 8 percent and could possibly get worse if there are more layoffs as a result of the outcome of the state budget negotiations. This means that more Pennsylvania citizens could join the ranks of the unemployed.

With unemployment comes home foreclosure. In April 2009, a record 5,000 homes went into foreclosure in Pennsylvania and foreclosures were up 54% from last year at this time. The resources that HEMAP provides are valuable to those in need. Cutting funding to this essential program could be devastating to many homeowners. Some would be faced with bankruptcy, credit problems and worst of all, homelessness. This will force the need for more services like public welfare, creating even more of a burden on Pennsylvania taxpayers.

By rejecting the Senate Republican state spending proposal and working to ensure that this program is adequately funded, the legislature can help those in need continue to pay their mortgage in this time of uncertainty.

For more information on HEMAP, contact the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Finance Agency at:
(717)-780-3940
1-800-342-2397 (Toll free)
(717)780-1869 (Hearing Impaired)
On the Web at www.phfa.org