A state program to help save homes for people who can’t make mortgage payments is on the chopping block in Carson City.
Lawmakers voted to eliminate the Foreclosure Medication Program in the next two years because of its declining use.
When a homeowner goes into default, they are automatically enrolled in the program. Through the program, they can meet face to face with a representative of their lender, who has the authority to help them in some way whether through loan modification or short sale or some other effort.
Supporters of eliminating the program say it will save the state $2.7 million over the next two years.
But, Las Vegas Assemblywoman Heidi Swank believes there are more homeowners the state could be helping stay in their homes.
Swank said not everyone who gets enrolled in the program actually uses it, which one of her big concerns.
"That just makes me a little bit concerned about ending a program that doesn't cost us a lot of money and that we're not exactly sure why folks aren't enrolling in it," Swank said.
She also points to numbers from the real estate information company RealtyTrac, which shows a jump in foreclosure filings in Nevada in January.
"It's wishful thinking to say that we are out of this recession storm that we've been in," Swank said.
She would like to give the program two more years and in that time frame, find out why people who can get help aren't using it.
Assemblywoman Heidi Swank, D-Las Vegas