Baltimore's Neighborhood Housing Services has received $26,640 from NeighborWorks America, to support its foreclosure prevention efforts in Maryland. The funds will enable them to provide more foreclosure counseling to struggling homeowners.
"The number of foreclosure clients coming through our doors has increased drastically over the last year. We receive between 20 and 40 calls a day from homeowners facing foreclosure," says Tanya Washington, chief operating Oofficer, NHS of Baltimore, "Meeting the surging demand has been a challenge and we have had to do more with less. This grant will allow us to increase our staff's capacity to handle a larger volume of clients."
The NFMC award comes on the tail of an award NHS of Baltimore received from the State of Maryland this August, also aimed at ramping up the organization's foreclosure prevention efforts. This year, NHS of Baltimore accepted $70,000 from the State of Maryland, a $30,000 increase from its usual annual award. The state's decision to step-up the organization's funding was based on annual numbers they reported, which demonstrated a vast rise in clients seeking foreclosure prevention services.
As is the case with the rest of the country, Maryland is dealing with record foreclosures statewide. NHS of Baltimore works to combat these foreclosures through counseling and loss mitigation practices that provide budgeting, saving and credit counseling, as well as negotiating sustainable loan modifications with the homeowner's lender if possible. The service's counselors have secured a positive outcome for homeowners in need 73% of the time, be it through delinquency counseling or through a loan modification.
Source: Tanya Washington, NHS of Baltimore
Writer. Walaika Haskins