North Carolina Housing Finance Agency's Home Protection Program

The following information is copied from the NC Housing Finance Agency's web site.  You can access the original site by clicking here.

The North Carolina Home Protection Program and Loan Fund (HPP) provides temporary financial assistance to workers who have lost their job due to changing economic conditions and are facing a possible foreclosure.  Created by the General Assemply in 2004 and operated by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, the program was expanded in 2008 and provides assistance to workers in all 100 counties.

How Does It Work?

Qualified homeowners can receive a loan for up to $ 24,000.00 at zero interest. The funds will be used to pay your mortgage and related expenses, such as property insurance, homeowner dues, and property taxes for up to 24 months. No repayment is needed for 15 years, unless your home is sold, refinanced, or is no longer your principal residence.

Homeowners can receive help in three ways:

• One-time assistance to bring your mortgage current
• Short-term assistance while you look for a job
• Long-term assistance while you participate in an approved retraining program.

A unique component of the program is the temporary stay of foreclosure for up to 120 days. Under N.C. statute (Session Law 2005-276, Section 20.2, as amended), once a homeowner’s completed application has been received by the Agency and eligibility has been confirmed, the stay of foreclosure is imposed. While the stay protects the homeowner from foreclosure, it does not protect against collection, prevent late payment from being included on the homeowner’s credit report, or relieve the homeowner from honoring any agreements to pay mortgage-related obligations.

Who Is Eligible to Apply?

Homeowners must meet all of the following criteria:

• have lost your job or experienced more than a 50% reduction in hours/income for at least two months due to changing economic conditions (i.e. through no fault of your own) and the job loss or reduction in hours/income must have occurred within the last 2 years
• have a mortgage that is secured by real property
• had a satisfactory mortgage and installment payment history prior to the job loss
• be a legal U.S. resident who owns property in North Carolina that is your principal residence.

Assistance is available on a first-come, first-serve basis, and until funds are expended.

How To Apply?

Homeowners apply for HPP assistance through a participating housing counseling agency. The counseling agency will assess the homeowner’s situation and verifies if they meets eligibility criteria for HPP assistance. If they do, the counseling agency will help the homeowner submit an application to the North Carolina Finance Agency.

NOTE: If the counseling agency determines the homeowner is not eligible to apply for HPP, they will help the homeowner look at other loss mitigation options.

Homeowners must provide all necessary information requested with the application, including a narrative that explains the circumstances of the job loss as well as plans to resume mortgage payments.

View the HPP eligibility requirement, forms and list of other information needed by the counselor to help the homeowner complete an application.

Please note that the counseling agency’s determination of eligibility for a loan does not guarantee assistance. Successful applicants must also meet HPP Underwriting Guidelines.

The housing counselor will explain these guidelines to the homeowner in more detail. The N.C. Housing Finance Agency makes the final loan decision.

For more information on the Home Protection Program, contact Andrea Green at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (919) 877-5698 or Rich Lee at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (919) 877-5688.

North Carolina's Housing Finance Agency - Homless Prevention & Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP)

The following information is copied from the NC Housing Finance Agency's web site.  Click HERE to go to the site.

The Homeless Prevention & Rapid Re-housing Program (HPRP) is one of the programs that resulted from the 2009 Stimulus Act, also known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  In this program, funds will be directed toward:

• Homelessness prevention
• Diversion (finding alternative housing as soon as people become homeless, sot hey do not need to spend the night in a homeless shelter), and
• Rapid re-housing for people who are currently homeless.

Organizations across the state will provide case management and outreach to homeless people and those at imminent risk of homelessness, and will provide flexible financial assistance to enable households to become or remain housed.  This flexible financial assistance could be provided in the form of rental assistance (including back rent for months where the household has been unable to pay), utility deposits, security deposits, and/or moving costs.  By federal regulation, the funds must be used for housing-related expenses (not related to other services like medical expenses), and cannot be used for foreclosure prevention.

If you are in need of HPRP assistance to keep from becoming homeless, look on this contact list of organizations providing HPRP to find contact info for the program closest to you.  Below are resources and materials for organizations administering the North Carolina HPRP program.