Washington State Advocates Foreclosure Counseling

Washington state's PROOF program, which stands for Prevent or Reduce Owner-Occupied Foreclosure, matches homeowners who are behind on their mortgage with certified housing counselors. Lawmakers have authorized $250,000 for the statewide initiative to help distressed homeowners negotiate loan modifications or other workouts with their lenders.
The program was created under a new piece of legislation signed into law by ""Gov. Christine Gregoire"":http://www.governor.wa.gov last month. The bill, ""SB 6033"":http://www.washingtonvotes.org/2009-SB-6033 , was sponsored by Sen. Jean Berkey (D-Everett) and overwhelmingly passed the Washington Legislature with unanimous approval.
Through the PROOF initiative, a statewide pool of volunteer attorneys, mortgage brokers, and other professionals will be recruited to help homeowners with incomes up to 140 percent of their county's median income renegotiate their mortgage terms.
""Sen. Berkey"":http://sdc.wa.gov/senators/berkey/ commented, ""The beauty of this bill is it doesn’t add another layer of bureaucracy or cost a lot of money. We are using private sector talent to help families. This is a team approach.""
The state's ""Housing Finance Commission"":http://www.wshfc.org will administer the program and is charged with recruiting the volunteer network. Dee Taylor, director of the commission's homeownership division, told the _""Seattle Times"":http://seattletimes.nwsource.com_ that the two dozen or so federally approved foreclosure counseling agencies in Washington are overwhelmed with requests from homeowners. The PROOF program is expected to provide additional support to handle the growing volume of borrowers in the state seeking assistance.
According to Berkey's office, Senate Bill 6033 complements another anti-foreclosure bill, ""Senate Bill 5810"":http://www.washingtonvotes.org/Legislation.aspxxID=76999, which was co-sponsored by Berkey and signed by the governor in late April. SB 5810 gives homeowners more options and time to negotiate with lenders and protects them against lenders who refuse to take reasonable steps to work with them, the senator's office explained.