SUN Initiative (Stabilizing Urban Neighborhoods)
SUN Initiative, our foreclosure prevention program, works to prevent the displacement of families and the neighborhood destabilizing effects of vacancy and abandonment. We acquire foreclosed properties before evictions occur and resell these homes to their existing occupants with mortgages they can afford. Since late 2009, SUN Initiative has kept more than 560 families facing foreclosure in their homes, reducing their monthly mortgage payments and principal balances, on average, by 38%.
The Challenge
The foreclosure crisis threatens our nation’s economic recovery and the stability not only of individual homeowners but also of entire neighborhoods and municipalities. It is a national issue—one that demands the attention of all Americans and requires a nationally viable solution.
The SUN Solution
SUN Initiative’s formula is straightforward. Qualify our potential borrowers by carefully underwriting their finances and employment situations. Negotiate with the lender’s representative to buy a foreclosed home at the current, distressed market value—which is often substantially less than the amount originally paid by the homeowner. Resell the home, typically at current fair market value, to its existing occupants with a new, fixed-rate 30-year mortgage they can afford. While SUN Initiative began in Massachusetts, we are now accepting inquiries from Maryland, Rhode Island, New Jersey and Illinois with a plan to expand to other high foreclosure rate states.
The Impact
To date, SUN Initiative has provided more than $85 million in mortgage financing to help more than 560 families remain in their homes. Borrowers’ original outstanding mortgage principal has been reduced in the aggregate by more than $46 million. SUN has renegotiated hundreds of mortgages and nearly all of them pay on time.
Our borrowers include people from all walks of life, schoolteachers and firefighters, salesclerks and auto mechanics, veterans and parents of soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
On average SUN Initiative borrowers benefit from:
38% reduction in mortgage principal
38% reduction in monthly payments
Boston Community Capital: SUN Initiative
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