January 25, 2008

RE: Home Ownership Preservation

Dear Mayor:

NEW JERSEYANS HAVE ‘HOPE’ IN THE MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE CRISIS.

In response to concerns raised by Mayors from around the State, the League will provide you with the best available resources to help your residents through our mortgage foreclosure crisis. As a beginning, we will partner with the New Jersey Home Ownership Preservation Effort (NJ-HOPE).

NJ-HOPE is a voluntary public/private alliance of government agencies, not-for-profit organizations, and financial institutions committed to enhancing home ownership preservation by raising consumer awareness of available mortgage products and funding, providing increased access to credit and loan counseling for those who need it, and providing temporary assistance to consumers who are in immediate danger of foreclosure.

In addition to the League, NJ-HOPE partners include the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance (DOBI), the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), the New Jersey Housing and Mortgage Finance Agency (NJHMFA), the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), NeighborWorks America,  the New Jersey Bankers Association, the New Jersey Credit Union League, the New Jersey Financial Services Association, the New Jersey League of Community Bankers, and the Mortgage Bankers Association of New Jersey.

For more information, you and any threatened homeowners can call the DOBI Consumer Hotline, toll-free, at (800) 446-7467, or visit the NJ-HOPE Web site at www.njhope.nj.gov.

You can also refer to the “Home Ownership Preservation” section on our website which can also be accessed under the “In the News” heading on our home page. Please feel free to link our section to your own municipal website. And please let your constituents know that help, and hope, are available both through the League’s site and at www.njhope.nj.gov.

Very truly yours,

William G. Dressel. Jr.
Executive Director