The Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) is partnering with the statewide faith community to help Tennesseans facing foreclosure. To raise awareness of the Keep My Tennessee Home program, a federally-funded foreclosure prevention program, THDA is distrubuting DVDs of a video entitled “Hope for Homeowners” to 9,000-plus houses of worship across the state.
“The process of foreclosure is difficult and many people turn to their worship center for support,” said Ralph Perrey, executive director of THDA. “We all know someone who has lost a job, had their hours cut, been through a divorce or suffered a death of a spouse. We want to make it as easy as possible for our neighbors to get access to the help they need.”
The three-minute video, which is available in both English and Spanish, features interviews with nine diverse faith leaders in Tennessee and can also be viewed online at www.keepmytnhome.org/video.
In the video Darryl Taliaferro, executive pastor of Mt. Zion, Nashville, points out that “Foreclosure effects everybody. From a suburb, you can be from the inner city, it doesn’t matter where you live. Foreclosure effects everybody.”
Senior Rabbi Micah Greenstein of Temple Israel, Memphis said, “The members of my congregation who have lost their homes to foreclosure, or simply lost their job and weren’t able to make their mortgage payments, have told me it’s a surreal experience because it was always about someone else. It wasn’t about them.”
“The Keep My Tennessee Home program offers an opportunity for hope,” said Kevin Ulmet, senior pastor of First Church of the Nazarene in Nashville.
Keep My Tennessee Home helps to ease the financial strain many feel from a job loss, reduction of income, divorce or the death of a spouse. The program assists those facing avoidable foreclosures with up to $40,000 over 36 months. Even if a homeowner is not eligible to receive assistance, they may still receive free foreclosure prevention counseling. Residents in all 95 counties in Tennessee are able to register online through www.keepmytnhome.org and will be referred to a THDA-approved foreclosure prevention counseling agency to determine eligibility.