Florida HFC: Lee County First in Line for Housing Help

1:10 A.M. — Three housing counseling agencies have been chosen to implement the pilot Florida Hardest-Hit program being offered in Lee County - $23 million is available to help about 1,200 homeowners.

 

County residents will have first crack at assistance because of the pilot program, according to a release from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., which is coordinating Hardest-Hit statewide.

 

Lee residents will be able to get help for 90 days starting Aug. 23 and the rest of the state will have access after that.

 

But homeowners having trouble with their mortgages don't have to wait for the program to start, said Eddie Felton, executive director of the Fort Myers-based Home Ownership Resource Center, one of the three agencies providing help locally.

 

"Some of these people are not going to qualify for Hardest-Hit," he said. "You can go in and see if you qualify for any of the other loan modification programs."

 

For those who do qualify, Hardest-Hit will make up to nine months of mortgage payments on the homeowner's behalf to the lender. Once the homeowner resumes making the payments, the loan will be forgiven in increments over five years, according to Florida Housing Finance.

 

Felton said the local agencies will be trained today in how to administer the program, which he expects to draw a lot of interest. "I'm already in the process of bringing on a couple more staff members."

County Clerk of Court Charlie Green said the program should save some homeowners from going into foreclosure. "It should help a lot - that's a lot of money."

 

Still, he said, the underlying cause of the foreclosure threat needs to be addressed. "If you don't have work, all the money in the world doesn't make a difference."