Ohio’s Mortgage Payment Assistance program for Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) applicants fully subsidized recipients' monthly mortgage payments for up to 18 months while they searched for jobs, targeting unemployed homeowners who were at risk of or in foreclosure due to financial hardship and being delinquent on their mortgage. Participants had to report their employment status to the state housing finance agency. Those who became employed before reaching the maximum duration of benefits received at least two months of assistance. In Ohio’s MPA program, re-employed participants whose new earnings were 10 percent or more below their prior earnings and had a mortgage payment debt to income ratio of 31 percent or higher, continued to receive assistance up to the maximum benefit duration. The Mortgage Assistance Payment program was commonly paired with a second HHF program that provided assistance to make delinquent mortgages current.
The study was conducted statewide in Ohio.
Ohio’s Mortgage Payment Assistance program for Hardest Hit Fund (HHF) applicants fully subsidized recipients' monthly mortgage payments for up to 18 months while they searched for jobs, targeting unemployed homeowners who were at risk of or in foreclosure due to financial hardship and being delinquent on their mortgage.