Partnership will help homeowners, first-timers with work options
Freddie Mac has announced an expansion of its 2-year partnership with re-employment solutions firm NextJob to help homeowners and potential owners in high-need areas.
Along with the existing deal that will help financially distressed homeowners in underserved markets, the new agreement will assist homeowners who have Freddie Mac Home Possible mortgages increase their re-employment prospects after circumstances such as job loss, reduced hours or other employment challenges that threaten their ability to make timely mortgage payments.
Aspiring homeowners will be given assistance to in finding employment that will raise their income to qualifying levels for a Freddie Mac loan.
“While some parts of the country are benefitting from low unemployment rates, many rural areas continue to see limited opportunities and flattening or declining wage growth,” said Mike Dawson, vice president of single-family affordable lending strategies and initiatives at Freddie Mac.
He added that the initiative with NextJobs “will provide meaningful opportunities to create and sustain homeownership for families across rural America.”
The high-needs areas covered will include middle Appalachia, the lower Mississippi Delta, Colonias and other tracts located in persistent poverty counties.
“It can be difficult to have a direct plan of action to get you from where you are to where you want to be—this partnership will provide our members with that plan and get them to where they want to be faster,” said James Hunter, senior vice president of mortgage lending at HOPE Enterprise Corporation.
