Governor Martin O’Malley announced in 2007 that Maryland was committed to providing
assistance to imperiled homeowners as a wave of foreclosures swept through the state.
Noting that homes represent the largest investment for many families and the equity
in those homes was their greatest asset, the governor launched the Home Owners Preserving
Equity program (HOPE) program to help protect and preserve that asset.
At the outset it was clear that this housing problem would require the resources
of the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. At the same time,
reports of deceptive and unfair lending practices and the reality of less than robust
foreclosure protection laws in Maryland dictated that the Maryland Department of
Labor Licensing and Regulation lend its expertise and resources as well.
However, the DHCD and DLLR partnership was not the only story behind the efforts
to assist beleaguered homeowners.
In 2007, Maryland was feeling the ill effects of an impending recession. The state
budget was under severe pressure and funding cuts were required at practically every
level of state government.
Yet in the face of dwindling state resources, there were limited funds available
through an entity created by the General Assembly in 1992, know as the Maryland
Affordable Housing Trust. Traditional uses for the funds, which were generated by
payments of a portion of the interest generated from title company escrow accounts,
included helping nonprofit developers and supporting other efforts that preserved
affordable housing.
However, when skyrocketing home foreclosures threatened to destabilize Maryland
communities, MAHT weighed-in with $1 million for program funding.
Ultimately, those funds were instrumental in allowing DHCD to take the lead in fighting
the foreclosure threat through partnerships with nonprofit housing counseling agencies
across the state. Those agencies became the first line of defense for many homeowners
who did not know where to turn. DHCD quickly established a hotline to receive calls
from distressed homeowners. The hotline, in turn, referred many of the callers to
the counseling organizations that had received grants made possible with MAHT funds.
A clear mandate from Governor O’Malley to assist Maryland homeowners and the willingness
of partners such as DLLR and a host of nonprofit housing counseling agencies to
work tirelessly to help remains critical in this administration’s decisive response
to the foreclosure crisis in Maryland.
The $1 million in funding provided by MAHT underpins what continues to be a response
other states across the country may emulate.