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Over 7000 Ohioans Call 1-888-995-HOPE Hotline in First Year
8% of Ohio Callers from 216 Area CodeOhio Homeowners Facing Foreclosure Get Holp from NeighborWorks® Organizations
One year after the launch of the NeighborWorks® Ohio Foreclosure Prevention Initiative, the Homeownership Preservation Foundation reports over 7,000 calls to the 1-888-995-HOPE hotline in Ohio, 560 of which were from the Cleveland area. Over 3,000 of those Ohio homeowners completed counseling with hotline counselors and over 500 were referred for additional one-on-one counseling and assistance from organizations such as Cleveland-based Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland (NHSGC) and 11 other groups across the state.
With the rising number of Ohioans facing the potential loss of their homes due to foreclosure, NeighborWorks America launched the first statewide foreclosure prevention hotline in Ohio in April 2006. NeighborWorks teamed up with NHSGC, the Homeownership Preservation Foundation and 17 major mortgage lending institutions to provide resources to help homeowners facing foreclosure get assistance when they need it.
“Calls from Ohio have been steady with more than 400 calls every month last year and over 600 per month in 2007,” says Dean Caldwell-Tautges with the Homeownership Preservation Foundation.
Through HUD-certified counseling agencies, the 1-888-995-HOPE hotline has provided counseling to more than 20,000 homeowners nationwide over the past two years. Ohio accounted for 19 percent of the callers in 2006. Sixty-five percent of those counseled in Ohio had already missed two mortgage payments. Nineteen percent of Ohio callers were referred to a local homeownership advocate such as NHSGC, 22% received a recommendation for a loan workout/repayment plan with their lender, 12% were advised to list their home for sale and 36% need more counseling before a resolution was possible.
“The number referred to a local homeownership organization (19%) is higher in Ohio than the national average at 13% due to the strong NeighborWorks’ network and their continuous involvement,” said Caldwell-Tautges. “The number of homeowners advised to sell (12%) is lower than the national average at 17%, due in part to the cool housing market and the availability of rescue funds through the NeighborWorks network.”
The hotline provides counseling services free of charge and is available 24 hours-a-day, seven days-a-week. Homeowners who call receive advice, counseling, resources and assistance that helps them prioritize their needs and sets them into action to avoid foreclosure.
“We are providing crucial one-on-one counseling and services that enable people in Cleveland to find a way to avoid foreclosures on their home mortgages. Foreclosures in Ohio and our county are at crisis levels. This program is helping people keep their homes and helping our entire community avoid the harsh consequences and costs associated with foreclosures,” said Lou Tisler, executive director of Neighborhood Housing Services of Greater Cleveland.
A profile of a typical household counseled through the hotline nationally is three family members with an income of $50,000 or less. Around 41% of callers nationally have a fixed-rate loan product, and 43% have an adjustable rate or interest only loan. In Ohio 44% of callers have fixed rate loans and 40% have adjustable rate products, while 16% of homeowners reported that they were not sure of their loan type when they first called.
The largest concentration of calls in Ohio came from the 330 area code, at 23%, up from 8% last year. This is followed by 18% of calls from area code 614, up from 15% last year. Area code 937 follows at 16%, down from 22% last year. Area code 216 is at 8%, up from 5% last year.
The NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions, a special initiative of NeighborWorks America focused on homeownership preservation, is providing training, support and technical assistance to the 12 local community groups in Ohio so that they may have a significant impact on foreclosures throughout the state. Twenty-two partners, including 17 major mortgage lending institutions support the work of the NeighborWorks Center for Foreclosure Solutions.
Last year alone, over one million households in the U.S. entered foreclosure and the foreclosure rate on total mortgage loans is expected to grow significantly this year.
