LANSING – In a victory for struggling families throughout Michigan, a plan supported by State Representatives Lisa Brown (D-West Bloomfield) and Vicki Barnett (D-Farmington Hills) will go into effect on Sunday, providing a 90-day lifeline for homeowners at risk of losing their home to foreclosure.
"The foreclosure crisis has taken a terrible toll on Michigan families," Brown said. "Thousands of hard-working families who've worked hard and played by the rules for years simply need more time to work out a plan to pay their mortgage. In these tough economic times, a job loss or major illness can put anyone of us at risk of foreclosure. This lifeline will help thousands of homeowners stay in their homes."
The new law creates a 90-day lifeline for homeowners at risk of losing their home who commit to working with their lender and a housing counselor to find a solution. Counselors are available at no cost through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority (MSHDA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
Homeowners can visit the Representatives' Web sites, www.house.mi.gov/lbrown and www.house.mi.gov/vbarnett, to learn how to get help through the program.
Michigan ranked sixth in the nation in foreclosures in the first quarter of 2009, according to RealtyTrac, with more than 33,000 properties in foreclosure. In 2008, more than 145,000 Michigan properties statewide were in foreclosure – a 21 percent increase from 2007 and a 108 percent increase from 2006.
"The cost of this housing crisis has been felt by families in every neighborhood in our community," Barnett said.
"If we don't address the problem here, more businesses will leave Michigan and new enterprises will continue to pass
us up, making it much more difficult to get our economy turned around and our workers back on the job. This lifeline
will make an immediate difference in the lives of families here in Oakland County and throughout the state."