Home Loan Rescue Program Adds $5 Million to Oakland Property Values

A program backed by the Troubled Asset Relief Act has helped more than 550 Oakland County residents remain in their homes. (Photo via Shutterstock)

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A program that helps Oakland County homeowners pay off delinquent property taxes, interest and fees just received its five-millionth dollar, according to a news release.

The Step Forward Michigan Loan Rescue Program provides up to $30,000 per homeowner to bring past-due amounts current.

“We’re using every tool available to boost property values, fight foreclosure and keep Oakland County residents in their homes,” Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner said in a news release. “Step Forward Michigan erased the property tax debt of 500-plus families for more than $5 million.”

The money is part of a $498.6 million allocation to Michigan, one of 18 states and the District of Columbia targeted in the $7.6 billion “Hardest Hit Fund,” part of the federal government’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) signed into law by former President George W. Bush in 2008 in response to the subprime mortgage crisis.

Oakland County lost billions in taxable value during the ensuing Great Recession, said Scott Held, a spokesman for the treasurer’s office. “It wasn’t just poor people who ran into problems,” he said. “Middle-class homeowners also found themselves under water in communities that aren’t considered distressed.”

That includes:

• Bloomfield Township – 7 households helped, $42,612.79 ($10,653.20 average)
• Clawson – 6 households helped, $39,216.57 ($7,843.31 average)
• Ferndale – 24 households helped, $207,149.52 ($9,415.69 average)
• Huntington Woods – 2 households helped, $23,212.84 ($4,606.42 average)
• Rochester – 2 households helped, $12,898.83 ($6,449.42 average)
• Rochester Hills – 12 households helped, $146,478.81 ($12,206.57 average)
• Royal Oak – 15 households helped, $136,118.45 ($10,470.65 average)
• Troy – 11 households helped, $117,472.92 ($13,052.55 average)
• West Bloomfield – 18 households helped, $131,233.88 ($10,094.91 average)

Held said everyone wins under the program.

“It’s good for us because we get the delinquent property taxes back,” he said. “It’s good for the homeowners, because they get to stay in their houses. It’s good for the community, because it makes it more stable.”

Who’s Eligible?

Assistance for homeowners with property tax delinquencies was made available beginning Jan. 15, 2013, through the Step Forward Michigan Loan Rescue Program, which requires:

1. That homeowners are the title owner of the property;
2. They are facing a hardship, like unemployment or medical disability;
3. They have delinquent and/or late property taxes;
4. They don’t have large cash reserves.

The program, which runs through 2017, grants zero-interest loans and forgives 20 percent of the amount each year as long as the recipient remains in the home. When notice of these funds was made available, the County Treasurer’s Office immediately connected with the Michigan State Housing Development Authority about program rules, sent a letter about Step Forward to every delinquent taxpayer in the county and created a 23-page “cheat sheet” to guide homeowners through the often confusing online application process.

“Because the money from this program goes directly to Oakland County’s bottom line, our goal when the program began was $1 million,” Meisner said, adding that “557 families received more than $5.2 million to keep their homes and protect our property values is a victory that far exceeds our expectations.”