The Hardest Hit Fund program is being financed by $2.1 billion fraction of the $75 billion mortgage assistance program included in the Financial Stability Act of 2009. The large sum of money is being dispersed to the hardest hit states. By dollar amount, the money is being distributed:

• California, $699.6 million
• Florida, $418 million
• Ohio, $172 million
• North Carolina, $159 million
• Michigan, $154.5 million
• South Carolina, $138 million
• Arizona, $125.1 million
• Nevada, $102.8 million
• Oregon, $88 million
• Rhode Island, $43 million

Program Highlights from Each State

Since each state designed their own course of action for spending their share, no two plans are exactly alike. Some of the state-by-state highlights regarding how the Hardest Hit Fund money will be used are:

• Arizona: The ultimate goal of the state is to switch the mortgages of the financially strapped homeowners into permanent modification programs. Some of the tools being implemented include principal reduction, interest rate reduction, and/or term extension programs.
• California: Unemployed families will be provided with a mortgage payment subsidy
• Florida: Mortgage payment assistance will be provided to the unemployed and under-employed individuals while going through their job search
• Michigan: Under water homeowners will get state assistance regarding through earned principal forgiveness
• Nevada: The funds will be used to reduce or eliminate second liens courtesy of a three-year term earned forgiveness program.

According to the Whitehouse.gov website, the approved programs had to address issues such as:

• Help for unemployed homeowners
• Under water home owners
• Second mortgage complications
• Help develop other programs to make homeownership affordable and maintainable

National Programs Launched to Help Home Owners

This particular fund is only a small portion of the efforts conducted by the Obama administration to help stabilize the nations weakened real estate industry. The Hardest Hit Fund is backed by the $75 billion originally allocated under the Financial Stability Act of 2009. The program has several layers in place to assist struggling homeowners including:

• HAMP: Making Home Affordable Program was supposed to be the crown jewel of the Financial Stability Act. However due to glitches and complications, the program has barely made a dent in the state of the crumbling real estate market. In retrospect, it appears that HAMP lacked over-site from the Treasury Department, and ultimately put potentially qualified homeowners at an increased risk of losing their homes.
• Financial Reform Bill financial reform bill: Recently Obama signed the reform bill into law in order to curtail the predatory behaviors of big lenders and will force them to take financial responsibility for their actions. Within this monumental bill was also a provision to provide an additional $3 billion to help jobless homeowners pay their mortgages.