In 2009, the Department of Treasury launched the Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, to help ease the financial woes of three to four million Americans by adjusting mortgage rates to make their homes more affordable. We calculated the modification approval rate for each area overall and also broke it down by race. Approval Rates by Race and Metropolitan Area In addition to displaying modification approval rates by race and MSA, we were able to look at the change in the monthly housing expense for applicants that have gone all the way through the program.

While HAMP has fallen far short of its goals, it is still an active program in the nation’s communities and has worked differently in each city around the country. However, the areas with the highest rates of modification per application are in Puerto Rico, West Virginia and other areas of California. The top ten areas with the greatest average reduction of monthly housing costs were all in Puerto Rico and California, with five in the territory and five in the state.

The list of areas that fared the worst for average debt-to-income reduction and average monthly housing expense reduction is slightly more diverse than the ones that did the best. Unfortunately, the number of foreclosures in the country far surpasses the number of modifications this program will ever provide. The program faces other problems as well, such as a lack of compliance with the rules by banks administering modifications. Earlier this year, Treasury penalized three major banks that were collecting the incentive for not following the rules of the program, withholding the HAMP subsidy from them.