Source: Ny Daily News
Tuesday, October 2nd 2007, 4:00 AM

Members of Emma Robinson's family thought they had finally laid down roots − including an apple tree they planted in memory of their dead 3-year-old grandson.

But nine years after they moved into their three-story house in Olinville, the bank is threatening to take their home away.

Last week, five generations of Robinsons, ages 1 to 86, were at risk of joining the more than 14,500 other families in the city whose homes were foreclosed over the past year, many because of subprime mortgage lending.

But a last-minute call to the Homeowners Help Center on White Plains Road and a fast restructuring of their loan canceled the auction of the Robinsons house just hours before it was scheduled at the Bronx County Courthouse.
"I can sleep tonight," Robinson, 61, said the day the auction was canceled. "With God's help, we made it."

Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act (EESA) of 2008, the HOPE for Homeowners Board of Directors was granted authority to make changes to the program that will provide additional mortgage assistance to struggling homeowners.
As announced by HUD Secretary Steve Preston on November 19, 2008, the Board has approved the following changes which are intended to expand eligibility, reaching more distressed homeowners, and reducing program costs for both consumers and lenders.

HOPE for Homeowners will provide another resource to the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) existing efforts to aid struggling homeowners. Under the program, borrowers having difficulty paying their mortgages will be eligible to refinance into FHA-insured mortgages they can afford.

For borrowers who refinance under HOPE for Homeowners, lenders will be required to "write down" the size of the mortgage to a maximum of 90 percent of the home's new appraised value. In many instances, lenders will determine that such a reduction in principal will allow them to avoid a costly foreclosure, while helping borrowers stay in their homes.