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The study also provided a glimpse into the demographic and financial circumstances of struggling homeowners who sought help from mortgage counselors. According to the experiences of those seeking counseling in 2011, personal, mortgage and financial struggles are converging on many homeowners in Minnesota. The experiences reported by home owners offer new insights, such as: • Home owners are balancing mortgages on less income. The majority of home owners seeking help faced either a reduction in income (36%) or a total loss of income (24%) since first taking out their mortgage. These figures are consistent with the income challenges reported by home owners in previous years. • Mortgages have become unaffordable for many. 57% of home owners seeking counseling dedicate more than 30% of their monthly income to their mortgage - a recognized standard of an unaffordable mortgage. Twenty-Two percent of home owners reported dedicating more than half of their income to their mortgage payment. Minnesota experienced 21,298 foreclosures in 2011 and while the number of foreclosures is slowly declining, tens of thousands of families continue to struggle with their finances during this sluggish economic recovery. The Minnesota Homeownership Center will continue providing free counseling and support to homeowners seeking help in managing their mortgage. The services are available for free through 26 nonprofit partner agencies covering all of Minnesota. "As the economy and mortgages continue to falter, the Center will continue reaching out to homeowners across the state to let them know about this free resource that they can trust," added Gugin, who also cautioned struggling homeowners to be careful about who they work with to help avoid foreclosure, "No one who is struggling with mortgage payments should have to pay to get help, and never sign anything you don't fully understand. Homeownership Advisors are available throughout the state to help." ### The Minnesota Homeownership Center promotes and advances successful home ownership in Minnesota. Since 1993, The Center has worked to achieve its mission by empowering a network of more than 50 organizations to provide education and counseling services to potential home buyer and home owners working to sustain their mortgages. For more information, visit www.hocmn.org.