Housing advocates say that while the Obama administration’s mortgage
modification program could help thousands of New Yorkers, it has been
slow to get off the ground, and the majority of people who have applied
for help have yet to hear whether they will receive it. The Center for
New York City Neighborhoods, a public-private agency that connects
homeowners with counselors approved by the Department of Housing and
Urban Development, has overseen 400 applications for the Making Home
Affordable program, and so far, only about 100 of those mortgages have
been modified. The rest of the applications are pending with lenders,
with people often waiting more than 60 days for a response. “The
promise of this program is enormous,” said Rafael Cestero, commissioner
of the city Department of Housing Preservation and Development. “It’s a
brand-new program and it’s a very complicated issue, but we all share
the feeling that it’s been moving too slowly.” [more]