News


Financial Flash Newsletter

Advocacy Alert - Please Help Protect Important Federal Funding

We Need Your Help - Please contact our US Legislators (list below) and ask them to act now to ensure the Federal budget preserves funding in the following areas:

  • US Dept of Housing & Urban Development (HUD):  provides funding for housing counseling and education including Homebuyer Education, Reverse Mortgage Counseling, and Rental Counseling.
  • NeighborWorks of America’s National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC): provides funding for foreclosure prevention counseling.
  • Community Development Block Grants (CDBG):  provides funding for many local non-profits (see list below) serving low-to-moderate people in the City of Asheville.

Please feel free to use the suggestions below in your communications.

___________________________________________________________________

Advocacy Suggestions:

Western NC needs HUD and NFMC funding for housing counseling/education especially foreclosure prevention services because:

  • In 2010, the  demand for foreclosure counseling was 3.5 times the demand in 2007 when the mortgage crisis began. 
  • In 2010, 897 western NC families received foreclosure prevention counseling from OnTrack WNC which represents an estimated $134.5 million dollars in property value. 
  • OnTrack WNC has a great success rate;  while many cases are still pending,  94% of the cases we have helped clients resolve have resulted in homes being saved from foreclosure!
  • Saving people’s homes is critical to stabilizing communities and shoring up the economic recovery!
  • Foreclosures affect us all!  If a home is lost to foreclosure the property value of adjacent homes drops and the local property tax base is reduced, thus impacting revenue for local governments. 

Bottom line: The HUD and NFMC funding level should be maintained at the 2010 level, so that OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling can continue to help western NC families save their homes from foreclosure!


Western NC needs funding for The Community Development Block Grant Fund (CDBG) because:

  • The funding provided through CDBG helps low-to-moderate income people find/maintain safe affordable housing, receive job training, begin small businesses, and avoid foreclosure.
  • CDBG funding supports programs of agencies in the City of Asheville such as OnTrack Financial Education & Counseling,  Pisgah Legal Services, Mountain Housing Opportunities, Mountain BizWorks, Helpmate, Asheville Habitat for Humanity, and Green Opportunities (GO). These other local agencies would be greatly impacted by a CDBG funding cut.
  • The CDBG funding OnTrack WNC receives allows us to leverage other funding to support services in our entire 18-county Western North Carolina service area.  The CDBG funding specific to Asheville frees up funding to use to fund services in the rest of our service area.

Bottom line:  CDBG should be maintained because it is vital to our community's ability to provide comprehensive, much-needed services for low-to-moderate income households.

Call to Action

Call or email  Senator Burr, Senator Hagan, and Congressman Shuler today and tell them the BOTTOM LINE about continuing funding for HUD, NFMC, and CDBG.  Remember, the people of Western North Carolina are counting on you to make your voice heard!

United Way NFCC Council on Accreditation