Courtesy Empire Justice Center

MOHAMED FARGHALY

mfarghaly@queensledger.com

Housing and legal advocates are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul to fully fund the New York State Homeowner Protection Program as part of her 2026 Executive Budget, warning that rising insurance costs, foreclosure risks and predatory practices continue to threaten homeowners across the state.

In a joint statement responding to Hochul’s State of the State address, Christie Peale, CEO and executive director of the Center for NYC Neighborhoods, and Kristin Brown, president and CEO of the Empire Justice Center, said they welcomed the governor’s focus on housing affordability but emphasized that legal protections for homeowners must remain a central pillar of that effort.

“We appreciate Gov. Hochul’s focus on tackling rising home insurance costs and the real pressures New Yorkers face in affording and keeping their homes,” the statement said. “That’s why the New York State Homeowner Protection Program (HOPP) must be a part of any comprehensive housing affordability agenda, and why we urge the Governor to again fully fund the program at $40 million in the Executive Budget.”

The Center for NYC Neighborhoods is one of the co-anchor organizations that administers HOPP statewide. Kevin Wolfe, the center’s deputy director for advocacy and public affairs, said the program is unmatched nationally in scale and scope.

“HOPP stands for homeowner protection program, and it is probably the largest foreclosure prevention sort of state-run initiative in the country,” Wolfe said. “There’s really not too many systems that are analogous.”

According to Wolfe, the program supports more than 90 nonprofit organizations across New York City and the rest of the state that provide legal representation, housing counseling and financial counseling to homeowners facing foreclosure.

“There are over 90 different nonprofits from across New York City and New York State that receive funding, that receive training, that are supervised in the HOPP program to provide assistance to a homeowner who’s in foreclosure,” he said.

New York established the program in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis to ensure homeowners would not face foreclosure alone, Wolfe said, adding that the state has continued funding those services for nearly two decades.

“New York was one of the few states, basically the only state, that, in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, set up a system so that homeowners are sort of never again in a situation where they are losing their home and have no one to turn to help,” Wolfe said.

Advocates say the need for HOPP has grown as insurance costs rise, particularly for multifamily buildings, co-ops and condominiums in New York City. Wolfe said those increases have become a major financial strain.

“Because of our unique housing market that we have in New York City, where we have a lot of multifamily home ownership at scale, we’ve seen rising insurance costs be the number one driver in expenditures,” he said.

While insurance costs have not yet been definitively linked to foreclosure filings, Wolfe said New York continues to experience higher foreclosure rates than the national average.

“About 6% of New York City’s mortgages are currently in foreclosure,” he said. “If you look at the rest of the country, it’s about 4%.”

Certain communities face disproportionate risk, particularly in Queens. Wolfe pointed to Southeast Queens, flood-prone neighborhoods and areas with high concentrations of immigrant homeowners.

“Definitely the sort of Southeast Queens, immigrant heavy neighborhoods, predominantly African American neighborhoods, they are hit very hard by foreclosure,” he said.

Wolfe also cited delayed federal flood mapping and historic discriminatory lending practices as compounding factors, particularly in communities with limited access to traditional banking products.

“A lot of those individuals get into home ownership, and then they may have a predatory model,” he said. “They may have been duped because they don’t have the same access to traditional banking that a comparable white homeowner or home buyer would have.”

HOPP-funded legal representation can dramatically change outcomes, advocates say. Legal services help homeowners understand their rights under New York law, including the right to settlement conferences and protections against unlawful foreclosures.

“The legislature has passed good laws that are on the books,” Wolfe said. “But a lot of times these laws are ignored because homeowners are not aware of their rights.”

Without that guidance, Wolfe said, some homeowners abandon their properties after receiving foreclosure notices, contributing to the spread of vacant “zombie homes” across the city.

“Just because you are behind on your mortgage, it doesn’t mean it’s too late,” he said. “You can still receive assistance. You may be able to keep your home.”

Wolfe said fully funding HOPP at $40 million is critical as federal financial oversight weakens and housing pressures intensify in New York.

“In some ways it’s the last line of defense,” he said. “We really need to make sure that New York State is properly funding the legal services on the ground, so that the homeowners have that line of defense against the banks, against the lenders, against the unscrupulous professionals in the real estate industry.”

Advocates argue that preserving homeownership, particularly for long-term residents in communities of color, is essential to housing stability statewide. As Peale and Brown said, the program has proven its value for more than a decade and must remain a permanent part of New York’s housing safety net.