A just released report by federal auditors says, Florida has performed worst than any other state in using monies meant to keep homeowners from losing their homes.
Of the 18 states participating in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), Florida has the lowest rate of approving homeowners for assistance, one of the highest rates of denying assistance and is slow with processing applications, according to the report released Tuesday by the Special Inspector General.
Florida received $1 billion of the $7.6 billion disbursed nationwide, but the audit found the Sunshine state accepted only 20 percent of homeowners who applied for assistance, the lowest rate among the 18 states that received funding. The national acceptance rate was 48 percent.
Owing to the 6-month waiting period to receive assistance, the report found that 40 percent of Florida homeowners ultimately withdrew their applications, the highest withdrawal rate in the country.
“Florida homeowners do not have the same chance of getting foreclosure assistance from [the] Hardest Hit Fund compared to homeowners in other states, and that is not good enough for an emergency crisis program,” Christy Goldsmith Romero, the special inspector general, said in a statement.
According to news reports, Florida’s underperformance is largely due to the U.S. Treasury Department failing to set spending targets which would have led to greater disbursements earlier during the economic downtown. The program is managed jointly by the U.S. Treasury Department and the Florida Housing Finance Corporation, a state agency.
A Treasury Department official said, Florida has recently made improvements in the disbursing of TARP funds.
