After Urging by Sen. Brown, Ohio Added to Help for Hardest-Hit Housing Markets Program
Real Estate Rama – WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 29, 2010 – (RealEstateRama) — U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) today announced that Ohio will receive $172 million to help communities address the foreclosure crisis. The funds will come from the Help for the Hardest-Hit Housing Markets (4HM) program. While Ohio was not among the initial five states included in this program when it was launched on Feb. 19, Brown made direct appeals to President Obama and Treasury Secretary Geithner to dedicate additional funds for this program. The 4HM program, which uses leftover funds from the TARP program passed in 2008, will be expanded today to five additional states – including Ohio.
“This is a victory for Ohio communities,” Brown said. “Ohio is at the frontline of the foreclosure crisis and should have all the resources necessary to rebuild our communities. Too many Ohioans are trying to modify their mortgages so they can hold onto their homes, but getting nothing but the run around from their lenders. Too many communities are seeing vacant and abandoned properties that lower surrounding property values and compromise economic development. These homeowners and communities deserve more assistance and today the federal government is giving it to them.”
On Feb. 19, President Obama announced that he would use $1.5 billion in funds from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help states with high unemployment in which the average home price for all homeowners has fallen more than 20 percent from peak. While Ohio was not included in this announcement, Brown immediately called on President Obama to expand the Help for the Hardest-Hit Housing Markets (4HM) program to include Ohio. He raised the issue with him again, in a direct conversation aboard Air Force One on March 15. Brown also raised the issue with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on March 11.
