Mortgage assistance program spares a family from homelessness.
A Dekalb County resident, Ms. R had been living in her home for 24 years. As the sole breadwinner, she leaned on her mother to help her juggle the demands of her job, care for her disabled husband, and medical appointments for a chronically ill child. But things fell apart when Ms. R health conditions worsened, taking a physical and emotional toll on her. She fell behind on her mortgage payments and faced the devastation of eviction.
Fortunately, she turned to the Urban League of Greater Atlanta. Three years prior, the League had received a grant from the Dekalb County Government to assist homeowners facing crises like hers. The program allows the League to pay up to six months in back payments to give clients time to fix the problem. Clients go through counseling and agree to a lender-approved process that anticipates their ability to resume payments after stabilizing. Ms. R was four months behind.
She was able to fully reinstate her loan after five months. Not only saving her family from homelessness, but retaining $254k in home equity. The League payments also gave Ms. R’s young adult son time to gain employment and contribute toward the household expenses.
As many clients do, Ms. R wrote a letter thanking the League for the life-saving intervention. Her letter included the following:
“… I am writing to express my heartfelt gratitude for the generous financial assistance you provided. Your support came at a time when it was truly needed, and it has had a profound impact on my well-being and peace of mind.
“The financial relief has significantly lightened the burden I was carrying, allowing me to focus on my children’s mental health, education, my family’s needs, my health, and more. The stress and anxiety that had been weighing me down have been replaced with a sense of stability and hope for the future. It’s difficult to put into words just how much this means to me.
“Your generosity is a reminder that kindness and compassion still abound in the world. It’s reassuring to know that people like you are willing to step in and support others during challenging times. Your thoughtful act has inspired me to pay it forward whenever I am able to do so. …”
Ms. R’s story reflects the success of one of the League’s core missions: To create homeownership stability in our community. Please visit www.ulgatl.org to learn more about what you can do to increase safe, affordable housing and homeownership, which are drivers of generational wealth-building opportunities throughout the region.
For privacy reasons, this client’s full name has been omitted.
