2011 PHFA Annual Report - Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency

Service to others creates
a circle of sharing
(continued)
Gelene Nason, Housing Services
Making housing work for the residents in our multifamily buildings involves more
than providing safe and clean apartments. Many need support services to help them live
independently. A good example is transportation services so that senior residents have easy
access to their family doctor. PHFA’s housing services staff works with the management
at agency-funded multifamily buildings to fill in this critical part of the housing puzzle.
Gelene Nason is a PHFA supportive housing officer with expertise in housing for people
with physical or mental disabilities.
Daryl Rotz, Homeowners’ Emergency Mortgage Assistance Program (HEMAP)
HEMAP was started by the legislature in 1983 during an economic recession. It was
intended to assist families that had fallen on hard times, helping them keep their homes
and gain time for finding new work. It’s been successful in that mission, serving as a
national model for how to do foreclosure prevention right. It’s also helped to stabilize
communities that otherwise might have been crippled by empty homes and falling
property values. Daryl Rotz has worked on the HEMAP staff for 28 years. Starting
as a loan officer, he’s risen to become the program’s director.
23
Denise Shearer, Homeownership Programs
The purchase of a home typically is the single largest investment people will make
in their life. But it’s not a purchase that most people make frequently. As a result, for
many of us, the home purchasing process is an intimidating and challenging experience.
By providing pre-purchase counseling through our statewide counseling network,
and with assistance from our helpful loan officers, PHFA works to make homebuying
less stressful. As part of its customer outreach, PHFA staffs a homeownership phone
hotline. Denise Shearer is a customer service coordinator who frequently helps to answer
questions when people call.