Reverse Mortgage Program to Help Seniors Facing Foreclosure

Keep Your Home California has launched a new pilot program to help low and moderate-income senior homeowners avoid foreclosure on their reverse mortgages. Senior homeowners who are at risk of losing their home to foreclosure due to delinquent property expenses associated with their Federal Housing Administration (FHA) insured reverse mortgages could qualify for as much as $25,000 in assistance.

The Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program is intended to help financially distressed California homeowners 62 years or older who have a FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM). Used in conjunction with special counseling that provides services to enable senior homeowners to assess their overall budgetary health, this program is designed to help qualifying seniors manage their delinquent property expenses. These expenses include property taxes and homeowner's insurance, as well as up to 12 months of additional assistance for future property expenses to ensure homeowners get back on their feet.

The Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program is the latest expansion of Keep Your Home California, a free, federally funded mortgage assistance program managed by the California Housing Finance Agency (CalHFA).

"There are many senior homeowners who need a helping hand in order to get back on track with their reverse mortgage-related expenses," said CalHFA Executive Director Tia Boatman Patterson. "We don't want these seniors, many of whom live on a fixed income, to lose their homes because of some missed payments caused by a financial hardship beyond their control."

Senior homeowners must meet the program's county-by-county income limits and have endured a financial hardship – such as a reduction of income, a divorce, a death in the family or extraordinary medical bills – in order to qualify for assistance. Homeowners must also reside in the home subject to the reverse mortgage and be able to make required property expense payments on a go-forward basis.

Keep Your Home California has reserved $25 million for the Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program and estimates about 1,400 homeowners could benefit from the program.

Homeowners who need assistance should contact their reverse mortgage servicer to begin the application process for the Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program. All of the participating servicers are listed on the Reverse Mortgage Assistance Pilot Program web page at http://www.keepyourhomecalifornia.org/reverse-mortgage-assistance-program.

Keep Your Home California was established in 2011 after the state received nearly $2 billion from the U.S. Treasury's Hardest Hit Fund. Over 49,000 homeowners have received a total of $920 million from the federally funded program. To learn more, visit http://www.KeepYourHomeCalifornia.org.