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.

Foreclosure filings in the Triangle slowed some in June but filings continue to outpace last year's levels through the first half of the year.

Filings in Durham, Johnston and Wake counties totaled 4,433 through the first six months of 2010, up 24 percent from the same period a year ago, according to the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts monthly report.

Foreclosure filings mark the start of the foreclosure process. Some homeowners will work out repayment plans. Others will lose their homes.

As the economic downturn has dragged on and the state's unemployment rate has remained high, the foreclosure crisis has spread from subprime borrowers to those with traditional mortgages.

Foreclosure filings in the Triangle continue to outpace last year's levels as the state's high unemployment rate pushes more homeowners into trouble.

Filings in Durham, Johnston, and Wake counties totaled 3,703 through the first five months of 2010, up 35 percent from the same period a year ago, according the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts monthly report.

In Wake County, there were 462 filings in May, up 62 percent from May 2009. Filings in Wake through the first five months of the year are 40 percent higher than the same period last year.

Durham recorded 152 filings in May, up 30 percent from May 2009. Through the first five months of the year filings in Durham are 41 percent higher than the same period last year.

Johnston filings in May totaled 85, down 35 percent from May of last year. Through the first five months of the year, Johnston filings are less than 3 percent ahead of last year's pace.

Filings mark the start of the foreclosure process. Some homeowners will work out repayment plans. Others will lose their homes.

The number of foreclosure filings in the U.S. in March reached the highest monthly total since at least January 2005, according to a California research firm, while filings in the Triangle were up compared to the same period last year in Raleigh and Cary.

National foreclosure filings in March totaled 367,056, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the previous month, an increase of nearly 8 percent from March 2009 and the highest monthly total since research firm RealtyTrac began issuing its monthly foreclosure report in January 2005.

The data could be an indication that banks are being more aggressive in dealing with default borrowers.

Foreclosure filings in Raleigh and Cary totaled 633 in March, up 120 percent from March 2009. Durham filings in March totaled 100, down 15 percent compared to the same period the prior year.

Nationally, there were 932,234 properties in the first quarter, a 7 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 16 percent increase from the first quarter of 2009. One in every 138 U.S. housing units received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

The number of foreclosure filings in Raleigh and Cary during the first quarter of the year totaled 1,470, a 42 percent increase compared to the first quarter of 2009. Durham had 273 foreclosure filings during the first quarter, a 17 percent decline from the same period the prior year.

RealtyTrac's filing numbers include default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions.

DHIC, a Raleigh-based non-profit housing development company, has received a $626,000 grant to fund new affordable housing projects and homebuyer counseling programs.

DHIC's grant is among the largest awarded under the NeighborWorks America program, which will provide more than $119 million to more than 230 nonprofit organizations in thousands of communities nationwide.   

The grants will be used to for homebuyer counseling; construction and rehabilitation of properties left vacant by the housing crisis; foreclosure prevention efforts; and producing and managing affordable rental properties and homeownership opportunities.  

DHIC has built or rehabed more than 1,500 apartments and 400 homes for sale in the greater Triangle. It also provides education and counseling to first-time homebuyers.

The nonprofit receives funding from the city of Raleigh, the town of Cary, Wake County, the N.C. Housing Finance Agency, commercial bank and federal stimulus funds to build three affordable apartment communities in Wake County including:  

DHIC's projects include Highland Terrace in Cary and Brookridge and Meadowcreek Commons in Raleigh.

The Obama administration unveiled a $600 million financial aid package for five states, including North Carolina, that are plagued by high unemployment rates.

North Carolina is eligible to receive $159 million of the aid, which will go to housing agencies in states with counties where the unemployment rate is above 12 percent.

In addition to North Carolina, the other four receiving a piece of the $600 million are Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina and Rhode Island.

The money is intended to prevent foreclosures.

It comes on the heels of the Obama Administration pledging $1.5 billion in funding for states that have seen the biggest decline in housing prices: Arizona, California, Florida, Michigan and Nevada.

Foreclosure filings in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties totaled 1,516 through the first two months of 2010, a 72 percent increase over the same period the prior year, the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts reports.

The four-county region accounted for 14 percent of the 10,881 foreclosure filings reported in North Carolina through the first two months of the year.

Foreclosure filings mark the start of the foreclosure process. Some homeowners will work out repayment plans. Others will lose their home to final foreclosure sales.

The most foreclosure filings in the Triangle in January and February occurred in Wake, which recorded 934. Next highest was Durham with 312, followed by Johnston with 210 and Orange with 60.

Foreclosure filings were also up sharply in Mecklenburg County, home to Charlotte. The county reported 1,744 filings through the first two months, a 95 percent increase over the same period in the previous year.

A new study on the impact of foreclosures on Latino families says losing a house can lead to depression, poor academic performance by children and financial devastation.

None of these findings are likely to be surprising to anyone who has been foreclosed upon or knows someone who has lost their house to foreclosure.

The study, conducted by the National Council of La Raza and the Center for Community Capital at the University of North Carolina, is being discussed on a conference call this afternoon.

The data in the study is based on interviews with 25 Latino families who have recently been foreclosed upon.

The report states that about 1.3 million Latino homeowners are expected to lose their homes between 2009 and 2012.

"The subprime lending and housing crises are expected to result in a loss of as much as $98 billion in collective Latino household wealth, a devastating figure given that Latinos and their children will constitute major growth in our population and households over the next several decades," a one-page summary of the study says.

"Our leaders must deploy concrete strategies that better serve communities of color, strategies that are proportionate to the depth of the foreclosure crisis and the urgency that comes with a family’s last paycheck and the eviction notice that follows."

Foreclosure filings in January in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties increased 119 percent compared to the same period last year, the N.C. Administrative Office of the Courts reported today.

Filings in the four counties totaled 738, which was close to the 749 filings reported in the four counties in January 2008.

There were 5,247 filings in North Carolina in January 2010.

Foreclosure filings mark the start of the foreclosure process. Some homeowners will work out repayment plans. Others will lose their home to final foreclosure sales.

The most foreclosure filings in the Triangle in January occurred in Wake, which recorded 465. Next highest was Durham with 148, followed by Johnston with 95 and Orange with 30.

The number of foreclosure filings in North Carolina this year was 46,363 at the end of September, the N.C. state Administrative Office of the Courts reported today, and are on pace to exceed 2008 filings.

There were 873 September filings reported in Durham, Johnston, Orange and Wake counties. Foreclosure filings increased in Wake and Durham over the previous month.

Durham County had 176 filings in August and 187 in September, while Wake County's filings totaled 527 in September compared to 468 in August.

Foreclosure filings between June and September in the four-county region were up 35 percent from the previous four-month period.

Foreclosure filings in North Carolina totaled 53,961 in 2008.