More than 4,500 North Carolina homeowners are receiving assistance from a federally funded program designed to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The state's Housing Finance Agency last week provided an update on the N.C. Foreclosure Prevention Fund, which launched statewide in Dec. 2010.

North Carolina was one of five states that received money from a $600 million aid pool designed to prevent foreclosures in states plagued by high unemployment.

North Carolina initially received about $115 million from the U.S. Department of the Treasury for the program, which is based on an existing state-funded effort that provides mortgage payment help.

The state has since received additional funds.

The program is designed to help those who have gotten behind on their mortgage payments through no fault of their own.

The U.S. Treasury Department has approved North Carolina's plan to use $159 million in federal funds to help homeowners avoid foreclosure.

The state will begin dispersing the money in December. The money is going to the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, whose mission is to provide affordable housing options to residents.

“We expect that over the next three years this effort will enable 7,200 North Carolina workers to keep their homes,” said A. Robert Kucab, executive director of the housing finance agency, in a statement. “It will also help stabilize property values in their neighborhoods by reducing the number of foreclosure sales."

North Carolina is one of five states that is receiving portions of a $600 million federal aid package designed to prevent foreclosures. The other states are Ohio, South Carolina, Oregon and Rhode Island.

The sizes of the allocations were based on the number of people living in counties where the unemployment rate is above 12 percent.

When the program was announced earlier this year, North Carolina's overall unemployment rate was 11.2 percent in February, and more than half the state's 100 counties register rates above 12 percent.

Only Ohio received a larger allocation than North Carolina.