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CASH receives housing counseling services grant Community Action in Self Help (CASH) in Lyons has received a $36,500 grant for housing counseling services for residents of Wayne and northern Ontario Counties through the US Housing and Urban Development Council (HUD). This will enable CASH to provide housing counseling services to help people become or remain homeowners, find rental housing, and assist homeless persons with transitional housing as they search for a permanent place to live. Counseling will also help homebuyers and homeowners to realistically evaluate their readiness for a home purchase, understand their financing and down-payment options, and navigate what can be an extremely confusing and difficult process. The grant will help counseling recipients combat predatory lending by helping unwary borrowers avoid unreasonably high interest rates, inflated appraisals, unaffordable repayment terms, and other conditions that can result in loss of equity, increased debt, default, and even foreclosure. Likewise, foreclosure prevention counseling helps homeowners facing delinquency or default to employ strategies to avoid foreclosure. Such strategies include expense reduction, negotiating with lenders and loan services, and loss mitigation. The Agency has seen a dramatic increase in sub-prime lending. Such loans, made to people with problematic credit and often charging high interest rates, account for more than one-fifth of all mortgages issued in New York State in 2005. 'Because of their onerous terms,' states Eileen Lutz, Exec. Director of CASH, 'these mortgages are far more vulnerable to foreclosure. This grant will enhance the value of the services we already provide and will enable more homeowners to remain in their residences at a more affordable rate. This only enhances the value of the other properties in the neighborhood. If there are several foreclosures in the same area, they can drive down the appraisal prices of neighboring homes that come on the market or the appraisal price for people who are trying to refinance. If their homes are now worth less than what they originally paid, these people may not be able to get a new loan, and that might force them into foreclosure, which starts the downward cycle again.' CASH, Inc., is dedicated to the goal that everyone is entitled to decent, safe, sanitary and affordable housing regardless of race, color, creed, or personal circumstances. For more information on the Agency's services, call 946.6992 or stop in to the office, at 48 Water Street, Lyons. Copyright
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