We served more than 22,000 homebuyer client households and helped 466 homeowners to successfully avoid foreclosure.
2021 was another busy year for the Center on both the homebuying and foreclosure prevention fronts. In the homebuying space, classroom education (including virtual live classes) was on par with 2020 at 2,295 participants vs. 2,330. Homebuyer advising was up 7.5 percent (on the heels of a 16 percent increase in 2020), while financial wellness counseling was down 31 percent. Among these clients, 91 percent would become first-time homebuyers upon purchase, and more than two-in-five would be the first generation of their family to own their own home – double the figure from last year. Additional key stats of note include the fact that 64 percent of clients were households of color, and 80 percent had household incomes at or below the area median for their community of residence.
In the foreclosure prevention space, the Center began working with 734 homeowner clients in 2021 – an increase of 20 percent from 2020, but still nearly 18 percent less than before the pandemic. Pre-foreclosure notices remained very low historically as mortgage forbearance and relief programs continued to offer struggling homeowners multiple potential paths forward. We closed 494 open client cases during 2021, with 466 foreclosures avoided – a success rate of 94 percent. According to 2019 U.S. Government statistics, each foreclosure avoided saves $79,443. Thus, our work contributed to more than $37 million in avoided expenses and losses during 2021 alone, which accrued to homeowners, lenders/servicers, local government entities and neighbors via more stable property values. Since 2008, the Minnesota Homeownership Center has worked with homeowners to successfully prevent more than 39,000 foreclosures – a collective financial value of nearly $3.1 billion.
The Center’s complete 2021 community impact is documented in the report linked here.