New York To End Foreclosure Assistance for Homeowners?

In recent years, especially since the onset of the COVID-19 epidemic, the number of people who have fallen behind on their rent and mortgage has skyrocketed due to being out of work as most of the world was largely shut down in response to the health pandemic. New York, along with several other states, and the federal government instituted various foreclosure and eviction moratoriums to help prevent a nationwide housing crisis that would have likely made the pandemic worse.

The state had several programs to help address the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, enacting several protections and programs that would help people with rent and mortgage payments. Programs like the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and the Homeowner Assistance Fund were available to help people make past-due payments. However, the ending of the COVID-19-related programs and protections also brought with it a wave of rental evictions and foreclosures all across New York. People have not been able to get caught up on their own and subsequently, evictions have skyrocketed across the state with thousands of people losing their homes.

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While New York State has recently enacted some new foreclosure laws that aim to help homeowners, housing advocates across the state are worried that those protections will not be enough as the New York State government is poised to end most of the foreclosure prevention programs that exist in the Empire State.

If the pending New York State budget was enacted today, the state's Homeownership Protection Program (HOPP) would end effective April 1st and the nearly 90 different foreclosure prevention programs across the state would end almost instantly.

New York State Senator Sean Ryan held a public event to talk about what would happen if these important services are ended by the State.

That would leave an estimated 300,000 people who are currently being on their mortgage to fend for themselves as the assistance programs that currently exist would disappear. More foreclosures in the state would lead to further economic degradation in New York, including an increase in poverty, homeless, and zombie homes.

Orgainzations all over the area work every day to help keep people in their homes when they fall behind on their mortgages. I hope we're able to continue serving the public because foreclosures and evictions really have a negative impact on individuals, families, and neighborhoods.
-Beverly Moore, Buffalo Urban League

Hopefully, New York gets it together because, because we don't want to see more people lose their homes.