Endeavors Protects Low-Income Residents Across Texas from Foreclosures with $6.9M Grant (includes Maverick County)
(PRESS RELEASE) (August 2, 2021) San Antonio, Texas — The national service organization Endeavors, headquartered in San Antonio, has been awarded a $6.9 million Community Development Block Grant CARES Act (CDBG-CV) from the Texas Department of Housing and Community Development (TDHCA) to provide mortgage assistance through the Texas Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (TEMAP).
Endeavors serves vulnerable populations — including veterans and their families, single mothers and their children, and people who are homeless — across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. The organization was founded in 1969 by five Presbyterian churches in San Antonio.
Endeavors will administer the TEMAP program in upper East Texas, Southeast Texas, the Gulf Coast Region (including Harris County), the Coastal Bend and along the South Texas border, providing mortgage assistance to homeowners impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic who are at or below 80% of the Area Median Income (AMI). The program pays up to six consecutive months of a household’s mortgage payments, including mortgage arrears, with at least one of those months covering a future mortgage payment.
According to the Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey, nearly 1 in 10 homeowners said they were behind on mortgage payments in Texas. Black and Hispanic homeowners are twiceas likely as white homeowners to be behind on mortgage payments.
In conjunction with other federal agencies, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) extended a foreclosure moratorium until July 31, 2021, and forbearance programs for federally backed mortgages through September 30, 2021. The relief programs cover 70% of existing single-family home mortgages in the U.S.
“Federal programs have helped millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure, but as these programs expire, families across Texas will face financial constraints during this return to normal,” said Jon Allman, president and CEO of Endeavors.
The percentage of homeowners who are seriously delinquent – 90 days past due – more than doubled since the first quarter of 2020. Homeowners with federally backed mortgages, typically first-time homebuyers and minorities, experienced elevated rates of seriously delinquent loans.
