5 states OK'd for federal foreclosure-prevention aid

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50,000 homeowners in 'hardest hit' joblessness areas may share up to $600 million
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38550182/ns/politics/

As many as 50,000 struggling homeowners in five states with high unemployment may receive help from a special $600 million federal fund intended to head off some foreclosures.

State housing agencies in Ohio, North Carolina, South Carolina, Oregon and Rhode Island can use money from a so-called "Hardest Hit Fund" for foreclosure mitigation that was announced in March, a top Treasury official told Reuters in an interview Tuesday.

Herb Allison, Treasury Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability, said each of those five states have had their proposals approved and are now eligible to begin receiving aid, though "the funds will start flowing in the next several months, state by state."

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"For the people who are going to be helped by this, it will make a very meaningful difference," Allison said, noting that the average homeowner will benefit by about $10,000 over the life of the program, which ends two months after President Barack Obama next faces voters in 2012.