State Struggling to Give Millions to Homeowners

Georgia has $339 million sitting in a bank account, and can't seem to give it away, according to a report on WSB-TV.

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs was given the money by the Federal Government to assist unemployed people facing foreclosure, but the agency is finding it difficult to locate those who need help, even though the state has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

The program is known as Homesafe Georgia, and it’s a grant as opposed to a loan for mortgage assistance for up to 18 months. Applicants must be unemployed and not more than six months behind on their mortgage payments.

"We are doing good things but we could be helping a lot more people," Phil Foil, Deputy Commissioner for the agency, told Channel 2.

Part of the problem may be that many of the homeowners who need help don’t have a computer and can’t access the Homesafe Georgia website. "If we had to do it over again, we'd probably look at our marketing and figure out how we'd get the word to unemployed folks quicker and better," Foil said.

The agency has only spent $4 million so far, but they have committed another $23 million to 900 Georgia homeowners, according to officials. If the money isn’t used by 2017 it must go back to the federal government.