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February 2005
1
$1.75 million appropriated for laid-off workers
BY SCOTT JENKINS
SALISBURY POST
Agencies in Rowan and Cabarrus counties will share in a $1.75 million state
program to help laid-off workers avoid foreclosure by helping them make
house payments.
The Home Protection Pilot Program and Loan Fund, which
went into effect Jan. 3, will target eight counties with the funding. It is
administered through the N.C. Housing Finance Agency.
The program is expected to finance up to 150 loans. Each
loan can be made either in a single lump sum to resolve an existing
delinquency or ongoing payment assistance for up to 18 months.
The maximum loan amount is $20,000, to be repaid over a
long term at no interest, said Lou Adkins, community development coordinator
with the Salisbury Community Development Corp.
State legislators will evaluate the program in May and
decide whether to commit ongoing funding.
To be eligible for the program, homeowners must:
* Have lost their jobs through no fault of their own;
* Be eligible for unemployment assistance through the
N.C. Employment Security Commission; and
* Have had a stable employment and credit history prior
to losing their jobs.
While under consideration for the program, an applicant
cannot lose his or her home to foreclosure, Adkins said.
A press release said the program, created by the General
Assembly in 2004, was inspired by the large number of layoffs due to plant
closings. In July 2003, Kannapolis-based Pillowtex shut its doors,
eliminating 4,300 jobs at its Rowan and Cabarrus mills.
Since that time, Salisbury Community Development Corp. in
Rowan and Prosperity Unlimited in Cabarrus have been working with former
Pillowtex employees and others in danger of losing their homes to
foreclosure.
So when the state asked them to first contact laid-off
workers they had helped before about the new program, Adkins said she mailed
letters to about 80 people.
"I have just been flooded with appointments, because the
majority of the people I sent the letter to are still in trouble," she said.
But many of the people the Community Development Corp.
saw during the past 18 months were able to get back on their feet with help
provided by the United Way and a smaller fund created by First Reformed
Church in Landis, Adkins said. So there may be help available to folks who
haven't yet sought assistance from the agency.
Additionally, if some counties don't use their full
allotment -- about $220,000 apiece -- the money goes into a pool to be
shared by the other counties in the pilot program.
And the biggest boost could come just by showing that the
loan program works, that it is helping laid-off workers stay in their homes.
"Hopefully this pilot program will prove to the
legislature that it is working, and there will be more money available after
May," Adkins said.
For more information about the program in Rowan County,
call the Salisbury Community Development Corp. at 704-636-4135. In Cabarrus
County, call Prosperity Unlimited at 704-933-7405.
Contact Scott Jenkins at 704-797-4248 or
sjenkins@salisburypost.com.
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