Florida lawmakers tag mortgage settlement funds for non-profit housing, foreclosure court cases

Florida legislative budget-writers are shifting more of the state’s national mortgage settlement money into programs targeting homelessness and foreclosure-clogged courts, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

An amendment to Senate Bill 1852 would reallocate an additional $200 million from the settlement.

The legislature has already devoted about $275 million to rental assistance and housing down-payments and housing for the homeless, using part of Florida’s $334 million lump-sum payment as part of a national foreclosure settlement with the five largest mortgage servicers.

Florida has received about 18 percent of the $25 billion consumer protection settlement, the largest in U.S. history, according to a February report by the Office of Mortgage Settlement Oversight.

Most of the financial relief for Floridians was expressed in nearly $3.3 billion in aid earmarked for short sales, and second mortgage waivers, under which about 37,000 Floridians have had an average $67,448 of their debt forgiven. [Orlando Sentinel] –Emily Schmall