Arizona fails to pass fifty million dollars in federal aid to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, despite being one of the hardest hit states in the real estate bust.
The answer is “yes”
Arizona homeowners robbed. Arizona had the nation’s second-highest foreclosure rate during much of the housing crisis. Yet from mid-2011 through the end of 2012, it spent only 6 percent of $268 million allocated to help Arizona homeowners through the worst housing crash in the country’s history. And a large portion of Arizona’s money was spent setting up the program — at one point making the state’s administrative costs the highest in the country.
Through 2012, Arizona had the poorest performance of any of the 18 states, plus Washington, D.C., that received federal “Hardest Hit” funds to help homeowners. The most successful states had spent more than 45 percent of their federal government allocation by the end of last year.
Arizona’s performance during the first quarter of this year has shown slight improvement. But as of the end of March, Arizona was one of only two states that had spent less than 10 percent of the federal money earmarked to help homeowners.
Arizona Department of Housing officials say the program did not have better success early on because banks would not work with them to modify mortgages, and Arizona was slow to adopt more successful approaches tried in other states. As a result, many homeowners’ mortgages were foreclosed on while the homeowners waited for aid.
We have several videos on our web site. Below are a few that might be of interest:
- “Lender’s Foreclosure Rights in Arizona”
- “Should I keep my home or let it go into foreclosure?”
- “Meet Ms. Drain and Suggestions on How to Hire an Attorney”
MUSINGS BY DIANE:
“This article speaks for itself. I can only say that I am disgusted by ‘the powers that be’ failing to work with suffering homeowners. You can only hope that some of these folks in charge face their own financial distress and feel what is like to be ignored.”
Diane is a well respected Arizona bankruptcy and foreclosure attorney. As a retired law professor, she believes in offering everyone, not just her clients, advice about bankruptcy and Arizona foreclosure laws. Diane is also a mentor to hundreds of Arizona attorneys.
*Important Note from Diane: Everything on this web site is offered for educational purposes only and not intended to provide legal advice, nor create an attorney client relationship between you, me, or the author of any article. Information in this web site should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from an attorney familiar with your personal circumstances and licensed to practice law in your state. Make sure to check out their reviews.*
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