South Carolina SHFDA: SC HELP Offers Early Assistance to Displaced Pella Employees

When Pella Corp announced plans to close its South Carolina plant, South Carolina Homeownership & Employment Lending Program (SC HELP), South Carolina’s foreclosure prevention initiative, was among the first agencies to offer help to employees facing job loss and dramatic reductions in household income.

 

This early intervention is another endeavor by SC HELP to bring potential beneficiaries into the program even before they have missed a mortgage payment. According to program director Matt Rivers, “The sooner we can get an application, the quicker we can try to get an approval and keep these households from slipping into default and foreclosure.”

 

Launched in January 2011 with almost $300 million, SC HELP targets homeowners who are falling behind on mortgage payments due to circumstances beyond their control. These may include unemployment, underemployment, a significant reduction in self-employed income, catastrophic illness, death of a spouse or divorce. The South Carolina program receives its funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury.

 

Iowa-based Pella Corp recently announced its manufacturing plant in West Columbia, S.C. will close by the end of December. The plant employs 145 people. Pella spokeswoman Kathy Krafka Harkema told the Associated Press that the plant closure and workforce reductions are the result of the downturn in new home construction, which has fallen more than 70 percent since 2006.

 

In an effort to assist employees with finding reemployment and other assistance, Pella will hold a job fair on Friday, December 2, 2011. Representatives from SC HELP and local intake agencies will be on hand to answer questions and assist employees with the application process.

 

Homeowners throughout the state wishing to make an application should apply online at www.SCMortgageHelp.com. SC HELP officials emphasize that using the online application is the fastest and most efficient way to begin the process. Homeowners without internet access may call toll-free to 855-HELP-4-SC (855 435-7472) to begin the application process.

 

In March 2010, South Carolina received nearly $300 million in foreclosure mitigation funding through the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) Housing Finance Agency Innovation Fund’s Hardest Hit Housing Markets. With Treasury’s approval, the SC Housing Corp., a non-profit division of the South Carolina State Housing Finance and Development Authority, created the SC HELP program. SC HELP is a foreclosure prevention program that assists responsible homeowners who have fallen behind on their home payments due to circumstances beyond their control. For more information, visit www.scmortgagehelp.com or contact Clayton Ingram at (803) 896-9520 or Clayton.Ingram@schousing.com.

For forty years, SC State Housing has created quality affordable housing opportunities for the citizens of South Carolina. The agency’s vision is that all residents have the opportunity to live in safe, decent, and affordable housing. The agency administers a number of Federal and State programs directed at low and low-to-moderate income South Carolinians. SC State Housing is self-sustaining and receives no state appropriations. For more information, visit www.schousing.com.