New York, NY, March 28, 2012—Legal Services NYC today applauded Governor Andrew Cuomo, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, and the New York State Legislature for their successful efforts to restore funding for the statewide Foreclosure Prevention Services Program in the FY 2012-13 budget. Up to $9 million of the funds used to support the extension of services will come from the $132 million secured by the Attorney General in the recent mortgage servicing settlement. Funding for the program was to have expired on April 1st, leaving programs across the state at risk of having to shut their doors to the thousands of New York homeowners currently facing or at serious risk of foreclosure.

Meghan Faux, Director of Legal Services NYC’s Citywide Foreclosure Prevention Project, said, "This funding is truly a lifesaver. Without the commitment of these elected officials, funding for foreclosure prevention services would have expired and homeowners in need of assistance would have been abruptly cut off. Elimination of this cost-effective and highly successful program that has helped so many New Yorkers prevent avoidable foreclosures—and saved the state billions of dollars in the process—would have been devastating to individual homeowners and communities across the state. Now, countless families across New York will have access to the legal services and housing counseling they need to save their homes and stabilize their community. We are grateful to Governor Cuomo, Attorney General Schneiderman, and members of the Legislature, in particular Assemblymembers Vito Lopez and Helene Weinstein, for their leadership and dedicated efforts to secure restoration of this funding."

Nearly 350,000 homeowners of owner-occupied 1-4 family homes are in foreclosure or serious delinquency in New York State. This foreclosure crisis continues to have devastating effects on communities across the state - abandoned homes and neighborhood blight create magnets for crime and severely depress nearby home values - affecting not just the homeowners and their tenants whose homes are lost to foreclosure, but communities as a whole, as local tax bases are degraded and municipalities are left with reduced revenues available to keep local government functioning.

The services provided by the Foreclosure Prevention Services Program are essential to preserving New York's economic security and recovery. Over the last few years, New York has invested approximately $50 million in housing counseling and legal services across the State to provide direct assistance to homeowners in default and foreclosure. With a modest investment, to date over 80,000 homeowners have been assisted and at least 14,000 homes have been saved from foreclosure. This translates to over $3.4 billion in property value and tax base preserved, and a return of $68 for every $1 invested in the program - a dramatic savings in a time of austerity budgets. 

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