A home in Springfield Gardens, Queens, a neighborhood hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, in 2010. Rates of foreclosure have dropped since then but there are fears of a resurgence.

Some big-ticket items are on the table as the New York State legislature winds toward the April 1 budget deadline, like marijuana legalization, bail reform adjustment and bracing for the fiscal impact of the coronavirus crisis.

Then there’s the Homeowner Protection Program, or HOPP, a $20 million program that funds 87 non-profit housing counseling and legal services programs around the state that work to prevent foreclosures. Backers say the program averts foreclosure in 25 percent to 30 percent of cases. Even when it can’t prevent the loss of a home, they say, it informs homeowners about how the process works, shows them how to avoid scams and helps them find new housing.

The program was funded for a few years by the office of the Attorney General out of settlement money, and last year a budget deal prevented its cancellation. But supporters say it looks like it could be left out of this year’s spending plan.

Foreclosures had generally been trending down across the state, but that could change amid the economic devastation of the coronavirus crisis. Gov. Cuomo suspended mortgage payments for 90 days, and everyone from Freddie Mac to HUD has taken steps to protect homeowners in the short term, but the impact of the crisis could be anything but temporary. There have been dire warnings about the impact of a sharp increase in unemployment on mortgage delinquency.

Courtesy of the Center for New York City Neighborhoods and Empire Justice Center, here is a rundown of where HOPP has helped since 2012:

CountyClients servedModifications achieved
Albany1,574208
Allegany24826
Bronx4,381736
Broome695110
Cattaraugus34625
Cayuga11513
Chautauqua53477
Chemung55953
Chenango20826
Clinton58672
Columbia26060
Cortland1239
Delaware17124
Dutchess1,649136
Erie7,7161,429
Essex27843
Franklin23731
Fulton15817
Genesee32197
Greene29042
Hamilton102
Herkimer24244
Jefferson38357
Kings12,2562,161
Lewis5711
Livingston19332
Madison14523
Monroe4,480490
Montgomery14410
Nassau18,7181,341
New York52730
Niagara1,036243
Oneida887187
Onondaga2,911321
Ontario42167
Orange2,057376
Orleans21054
Oswego68658
Otsego16636
Putnam822190
Queens11,4881,546
Rensselaer759143
Richmond2,798500
Rockland3,809821
Saratoga40376
Schenectady65064
Schoharie19916
Schuyler755
Seneca15318
St. Lawrence1014
Steuben41152
Suffolk14,6141,768
Sullivan1479
Tioga18536
Tompkins15124
Ulster1,113205
Warren11823
Washington14222
Wayne54180
Westchester3,636710
Wyoming20053
Yates16021
Total108,65315,163