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Jackson and Daley Stress Foreclosure Prevention In Chicago

Foreclosure does not have to be inevitable. That was the message from U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson and Chicago Mayor Richard Daley today as they encouraged residents to attend a city-sponsored "Borrower Outreach Day." Jackson and Daley visited the Tuley Park Field House where the city will be holding a workshop later today to support, educate, and assist homeowners in need of help keeping their homes.

"This workshop is important. Simply put: it may make the difference between keeping your home and losing it. You don't have to suffer in silence. You don't have to lose your home. There are new means of assistance," Jackson said.

Today's "Borrower Outreach Day" will allow homeowner to meet with lenders and housing counselors about their refinancing options, how to avoid foreclosure, and get their personal finances back in order.

HUD is aggressively working to help as many homeowners as possible. Today, HUD's Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures low-cost, affordable mortgages, has successfully expanded its products to help more people avoid foreclosure through refinancing their existing loans. Through FHASecure, which refinances mortgages that are current or past due, HUD has been able to assist almost 76,000 Americans since last fall, including more than 3,400 families in Illinois. More than 90 percent of borrowers who refinanced from the subprime market into FHA now have 30-year fixed rate loans at a much lower monthly cost. FHASecure will help 300,000 families by the end of this year.

"If Congress would complete their work on a bill to modernize the FHA, then we could reach even more people. For two years, the President and I have urged Congress to let FHA reach more hard-working Americans. Every day of delay puts hundreds of thousands of homeowners at unnecessary risk of foreclosure"