DENVER – Helping homeowners in Colorado avoid the growing foreclosure crisis, the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA) annouced it will contribute $50,000 to the Colorado Foreclosure Prevention Hotline. CHFA’s sponsorship will be earmarked to increase local housing counseling services outside the Denver metro area.
Established in October 2006, the Hotline’s success results from pairing homeowners at risk of foreclosure with housing counselors in their local community who provide information about options in lieu of foreclosure. Counselors also help the borrower negotiate and communicate with their lender. During this process, the Hotline recognized an unmet need in available housing counselors outside the metro-area.
“There are a number of couseling agencies outside the metro area, but what the Hotline needed were additional human resources to assist these agencies in prioritizing the most important clients and scheduling appointments,” said Milroy A. Alexander, CHFA’s Executive Director and CEO. He continued, “It is our intention that CHFA’s sponsorship will enable the Hotline to help even more homeowners in south-central and south-eastern Colorado where foreclsoures continue to increase.”
Research shows that face-to-face counseling is more effective than counseling over the phone because it allows the borrower to build a relationship with the counselor. Likewise, a local counselor is more likely to understand the property, local real estate market, and be knowledgeable about the bredth of community services available. This is particularly important for seriously delinquent borrowers.
“With CHFA’s help we will be able to more effectively pair borrowers with local counselors who have a deeper understanding of resources available-- leading to even greater impact,” said Zachary Urban of Brother’s Redevelopment, the Hotline’s managing agency.
CHFA’s Hotline underscores its commitment to the state’s homeowners and comes as part of the organization’s vision to double the number of households served by 2009. CHFA’s default and foreclosure rate has remained flat despite the foreclosure and subprime crisis, but wanted to assit homeowners needing support to sustain homeownership.
“Helping Colordans achieve and successfully maintain homeownership is key to CHFA’s mission,” said Alexander ”We are pleased that our sponsorship will assist the Foreclosure Hotline in continuing to make a positive difference in stemming the tide of foreclosures.”
About the Colorado Housing and Finance Authority (CHFA)
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