August 18th, 2010 9:15 AM

Congress has just come up with an extra $1 billion to help people who can't pay their mortgage because of unemployment or a medical problem.

Under this new Emergency Mortgage Relief program, eligible homeowners who are at least three months delinquent can get up to $50,000 apiece in federal loans to pay their mortgages.

The money for this program came in the financial regulation bill signed last week and will be made available to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development on Oct. 1.

This follows two other federal programs providing assistance to unemployed homeowners:

-- The Treasury Department is providing $2.1 billion to struggling homeowners in what it calls the "hardest hit" states. The Treasury awarded $1.5 billion to five states in June and will award $600 million to five other states later.

The California Housing Finance Agency got $700 million from the Hardest Hit Fund and will begin taking applications by Nov. 1 for its program, Keep Your Home. Low- and moderate-income people who are unemployed or owe a lot more than their homes are worth might be eligible for payment subsidies, principal reduction or relocation expenses. If the home is sold within three years, the mortgage assistance must be repaid from the sale proceeds. After three years, it is forgivable. For details, see Read More.

-- Effective July 1, certain unemployed homeowners can have their payments reduced or suspended for at least three months under the Treasury's Home Affordable Unemployment Program. To qualify, homeowners can't be more than three months delinquent and must meet other requirements. This is a forbearance program, which means the unpaid amount can be added to the balance or repaid in other ways, depending on the servicer. Read More.

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