Government-led PSA Campaign Aims to Make Home Affordable

by CHRISTINE RICCIARDI

Education is the next federal strategy to prevent foreclosure to homeowners who can't keep up with their mortgages.

The Advertising Council, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced Wednesday the launch of a new public service announcement campaign designed to encourage homeowners struggling with their monthly mortgage payments to reach out to the government for help through the Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention program.

The program, first established and introduced in February 2009, offers free help resources to eligible homeowners through the Federal Government. Since its initiation, Making Home Affordable has offered help to over 1.5m homeowners, 1.3m of which have started a trial plan.

“We are proud to partner with the Treasury and HUD on this critical campaign to educate Americans about free resources available to help them prevent foreclosures,” said Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council. “We hope Americans who are struggling will be empowered by these compelling PSAs and take simple actions to help them stay in their homes.”

The PSA campaign comes after a long list of other government implemented funds and programs to keep homeowners in their homes such as the Hardest Hit Fund and the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP). iServe Servicing CEO Richard Cimino told HousingWire in an interview that defaults and foreclosures drive the market price of the homes down. So keeping Americans in their homes with mortgages they can afford would limit the amount of both defaults and foreclosures, driving market prices up.

The Ad Council plans to distribute the PSAs, created by The Kapalan Thaler Group, to over 33,000 media outlets nationwide, including television, print, radio and web-based. Although the Ad Council did not state exactly when the PSAs will be aired, the videos are currently available for view at the Making Home Affordable Programs official website.

URL to Original Article:
http://www.housingwire.com/2010/07/28/psa-campaign-aims-to-make-home-affordable