GOVERNOR’S OFFICE NEWS RELEASE
CARSON CITY — Governor Jim Gibbons is pleased to announce that the United States Treasury has completed its Participation Agreement with the State’s Nevada Affordable Housing Assistance Corporation (NAHAC). He also applauded the timely efforts of the Nevada Housing Division in assisting with NAHAC’s application.
Nevada continues battling both high unemployment and high foreclosure rates. Under the Participation Agreement, the NAHAC will bring more than $102-million into Nevada to assist homeowners facing foreclosures or experiencing trouble shoring up their mortgage situation. “I am proud of our Nevada Housing Division for providing guidance to the NAHAC in preparing its Business Plan for U.S. Treasury’s review and ultimate acceptance,” Governor Gibbons said, “Nevadans need these funds. We will make sure funds are distributed to qualified applicants as quickly as possible”.
The Governor noted that no direct funding from the U.S. Treasury program will flow through the State Housing Division. All funding for the program will flow through the non-profit NAHAC. The NAHAC business plan included three primary programs that the U.S. Treasury has signed off on for Nevada. Those programs consist of: (1) principal reduction for first mortgages to help qualified borrowers stay in homes; (2) second mortgage relief to assist qualified borrowers whose second lien is interfering with a first mortgage loan modification; and (3) short-sale acceleration to assist homeowners who can no longer reasonably expect to sustain ownership of their homes due to extended layoff periods or lack of meaningful near-term job prospects.
“While we applaud the U.S. Treasury’s initiative to help bring elements of its Hardest Hit Funding program to Nevada and we certainly welcome the $102 million, no one should expect that this amount of federal funding will resolve the mortgage crisis Nevada faces now and into the immediate future,” Governor Gibbons said. Testimony at public hearings indicated, for example, that the underwater problem (mortgages in excess of current home values) in Clark County alone stood at over $44 billion as of March, 2010.
Governor Gibbons is encouraging all banking institutions and loan servicing organizations holding Nevada home mortgages to quickly sign up with the NAHAC principal and second lien relief programs. The success of these programs will depend upon the banking industry stepping up and participating in these new programs to help stabilize our housing industry.
Governor Gibbons further challenged the NAHAC to “beat the deadline for readiness and begin processing qualified applicants prior to mid-August. Nevadan’s need relief now and any delays must be minimized.”
Borrowers can find information on the new program at www.NAHAC.org