The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) is providing housing assistance to storm victims in Kansas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota, where storms and flooding caused many ruined homes and forced a lot of people to move out.

After a presidential disaster declaration, the HUD will implement a foreclosure relief program for FHA-insured families as well as other forms of federal assistance. This includes grants that can be used for home repairs, temporary housing, low-cost loans to cover uninsured property losses, and other measures to help expedite families’ recovery by fending off the possibility of being foreclosed on.

You can avoid foreclosure if your family has an FHA-insured home and is located in these areas:

Kansas: Barber, Bourbon, Brown, Butler, Chautauqua, Cherokee, Clark, Clay, Comanche, Cowley, Crawford, Decatur, Dickinson, Edwards, Ellis, Franklin, Gove, Graham, Harper, Hodgeman, Jackson, Jewell, Kiowa, Linn, Logan, Mitchell, Montgomery, Ness, Norton, Osborne, Pawnee, Phillips, Pratt, Republic, Riley, Rooks, Rush, Saline, Seward, Sheridan, Smith, Stafford, Sumner, Thomas, Trego, and Wallace Counties.

Oklahoma: Alfalfa, Beaver, Beckham, Blaine, Cotton, Custer, Dewey, Ellis, Garfield, Grant, Harmon, Harper, Jackson, Kay, Kiowa, Major, Okfuskee, Osage, Ottawa, Roger Mills, Rogers, Tillman, Washita, and Woods Counties.

South Dakota: Aurora, Bon Homme, Brule, Buffalo, Butte, Charles Mix, Clay, Dewy, Douglas, Gregory, Haakon, Hand, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Jackson, Lawrence, Lyman, McCook, Meade, Mellette, Moody, Perkins, Stanley, Tripp, Turner, Ziebach, and portions of Cheyenne River Reservation, the Crow Creek Reservation, and Lower Brule Reservation.

The HUD is also offering other housing assistance programs for disaster victims, such as:

          •    Immediate foreclosure relief – Homes with FHA-insured mortgages in areas terribly affected by the storm and floods are covered by the 90-day moratorium on foreclosures.

          •    Re-allocation of federal resources toward disaster relief – The Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME programs allow the use of millions of dollars to be redirected for spending on vital needs like housing for storm victims.

          •    Mortgage Insurance – Section 203 (h) of the HUD program offers calamity victims FHA insurance and 100 percent financing so that they can rebuild their ruined homes or buy a new one.

          •    Mortgage and Home Rehabilitation Insurance – Section 203 (k) of the HUD loan program allows families who lost their homes to refinance and repair their homes, or buy a new house through a single mortgage.

          •    Section 108 Loan Guarantee Assistance – State and local governments will receive loans guaranteed by the government to be used in housing rehabilitation, economic development, and repair of public infrastructure.

"These storms, and the flooding they produced, are tearing people's lives apart and we must offer substantive relief to these families," said HUD Secretary Steve Preston.

"To speed this recovery, we're calling for a 'foreclosure time-out' to offer FHA-insured families a little breathing room as they confront the rebuilding process."

The HUD is continually extending a helping hand to unfortunate victims of calamities. To know more about other programs designed to assist disaster victims, you can check out HUD community development programs by going to their website www.hud.gov.