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http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/98886244.html?e1r=KArksLckDBEQDUoaEygyP40:DW... Page 3 of 3 <br /> -_~" <br /> Point yaur <br />~~ ~ ~ ~ ~,~ ~ mobile browser to <br />hltp %~startribune.cum <br /> <br />Diane Lewis-Williams, who moved there three <br />years ago with her husband, Vincent <br />Williams, who works full time for another <br />local nonprofit. <br />She knows the struggles of being a one- <br />income family during tough economic times. <br />She gat laid off from her job as a receptionist <br />more than a year ago and sometimes they <br />can't come up with the $680 rent on their <br />one-bedroom apartment, so Aeon has <br />helped create a special payment plan. <br />"They've made it manageable for us," she <br />said. "They make arrangements. That's what <br />keeps us in." <br />With the foreclosure crisis humming along at <br />full speed. -- 90,000 in Minnesota in the last <br />five years, with one-third of them in 2009 -- <br />demand for affordable housing has never <br />been more acute, particularly rental housing. <br />"We see people coming to rent because <br />they've lost their horne," Ciganik said. "So <br />there's a new resident population that needs <br />affordable places to stay and can't get back <br />into homeownership, so renting is their next <br />opti.on." <br />According to federal data released "Tuesday, <br />60.2 percent of the permanent modifications <br />in the Making Home Affordable Program <br />happened because of loss of income, such as <br />reductions in hours or wages or lost jobs. <br />The federal mortgage modification. program <br />has met with mixed success. Of the 1.3 <br />million people who have enrolled in the <br />protn-am, by last month about 530,000 had <br />dropped aut, while 390,000 homeowners -- <br />30 percent of those enrolled -- are mak7ng <br />payments on time. Some say that pressure on <br />lenders to sign up borrowers without proof <br />of income has led to the high drop-out <br />numbers. <br />Some, like house painter MacAllister, wonder <br />whether the prot,~ram is working at all. She <br />took part in the program during a trial period <br />in the fall, when. officials at her bank, Wells <br />Fargo, assured her she was part of the <br />federal program, she said. Now they claim <br />they have no record of that. <br />"They're schlepping hope," MacAllister said. <br />"I'm tired of hope. I want results." <br />jbuchta~startribune.com • 612-673-7376 <br />molly.young~iistartribune.com • 612-673- <br />4376 <br />Advertisement <br />r\ ;,4 ~~iWiIM ~~ 3~~~~IY.i ~>~~ Gi3 <br />O~It ~~LF ~~'rrc~Frtw~tsr~a.~onn <br />n,w~a .kW ~ C?Ytld5#t1sYpSacXdACx2~~nrr.*x 5ika Dare«~.vr~.. <br />Print Pdvb,~; {_,~i ~~, <br />http://www. startribune.com/templates/fdcp? 1279813713011 <br />~~c~rc+o ~ ++ax~4 <br />n~yst€clak.~.con~ :~ <br /> <br />7/22/2010 <br />