Mortgage industry veteran Jack H. has experienced fast-rising home prices and plunge-like-a-rock housing values during his 30-year career. But nothing compares to the current market.

“I never thought it would be this bad – and for this long,” says Jack, who lives in Orangevale, about 20 miles from the state Capitol in downtown Sacramento. “It’s new ground for everybody.”

Indeed, homeowners who once enjoyed annual double-digit price gains have endured an average decline in their home value of more than 40 percent since the housing crisis started. And one-time multiple offers for homes have given way to a record number of foreclosures and short sales as lenders take them back.

“We didn’t realize how good we had it,” says Jack, referring to the booming economy during the first half of this past decade that has turned into a gut-wrenching bust since 2007.

Jack – like more than 2 million Californians – is unemployed. He has been jobless off and on for the past three years.

“I had a lot of responsibility,” Jack says of his previous positions in the mortgage industry, including as an executive with The Money Store. The company was one of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders before being sold more than a decade ago.

“Now, it’s hard to get a job,” says Jack, who is receiving mortgage assistance from Keep Your Home California while he looks for work.

Jack first heard about the state-run program at the California State Fair in mid-July. He completed an application and the necessary documents and was approved for the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program two weeks later.

“It all happened very quickly,” he says. “I was impressed with the service.”

Keep Your Home California, with $2 billion from the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund®, started paying his monthly mortgage in September and will continue for the next several months – or until Jack finds work.

“It helps me breathe a little,” says Jack, a matter-of-fact guy who moved from his native New Jersey to the Sacramento region in 1994. “It’s nice to not make a payment for a while.”

So, with Keep Your Home California handling his mortgage payments, Jack concentrates on applying for positions, including those in one of the hardest-hit industries where he had a front-row seat to the housing meltdown – and now watches for the recovery.

“Nobody is looking to upgrade” their home, says Jack, who expects the housing market to struggle for some time. “It’s not going to be an easy turnaround.”

Jack, a Navy veteran and former reservist with the Navy and Army National Guard, volunteers at a local church when he is not looking for work.

“Anybody I talk to, I tell them (about Keep Your Home California),” he says. “It was painless, it was easy.”

Longtime mortgage professional Laurie C. entered the fast-paced business because she “likes helping people.”

Now, Laurie – who has enjoyed a 20-year career in the home lending industry but has endured three recessions along the way – is getting a helping hand from Keep Your Home California.

Like many homeowners in California, Laurie has become a casualty of the dismal economy and the hard-hit housing market. She has been “in and out of work” for the past five years, as the housing market struggles through one of its worst downturns.

She was most recently laid off July 1, and soon after applied for Keep Your Home California’s Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program. The state-run program helps out-of-work homeowners with their payments, up to a maximum of $3,000 per month for six months.

“I tried to do a modification … but they gave me the runaround for a year,” Laurie says. The Keep Your Home Program was different. “They had me qualified and eligible in 10 days.”

The mortgage servicer, which must participate in the program, approved the payment plan for Laurie a week later.

Keep Your Home California – established with $2 billion in federal funds through the U.S. Treasury’s Hardest Hit Fund® – started making her monthly $750 mortgage payment in September, and will continue through February, Laurie says.

“I don’t know what I’d be doing” without the mortgage assistance, says Laurie, who lives in a condominium in Roseville, about 20 miles northeast of Sacramento. “I totally believe in this program.”

Laurie often educates other financially strapped homeowners about the Keep Your Home California and how the program has helped her save her home.

“I’m out there selling it,” Laurie says. “I’m a true believer that things happen for a reason.”

Homeowner Candy W. says persistence pays off.

The Sacramento-area resident applied for Keep Your Home California in July 2012, but she didn’t qualify at that time.

Several months later, she was approved for a hefty principal reduction by the state-managed program that lowers her monthly mortgage payments by hundreds of dollars.

“It’s all about documentation,” says Candy, who bought her home eight years ago at the peak of the housing market. “You have to be persistent.”

Candy had looked into other programs; she had been approved for two loan modifications, which lowered her interest rate from 5.75% to about 4.75% — but those saved her only $30 per month.

She needed more help.

As a state employee, Candy had lost a significant amount of income from furloughs and through a divorce. So, when she heard about Keep Your Home California on Sacramento TV station KCRA and a local radio station, she decided to apply and see if the state mortgage-assistance program was an option.

“It was a shot in the dark,” says Candy, who admits she was stressed about her mortgage. “But I was hopeful that something would come along.”

She says the process was rather simple, but adds that homeowners need to complete the paperwork as soon as possible and be an active participant in the process.

“Everything just has to be documented,” she says. “It’s just about following along with your processor.”

Now, she tells coworkers and friends about Keep Your Home California.

“It’s pretty encouraging,” says Candy, who has detailed the program to at least 10 coworkers during the past several months. “This is a major help.”

Homeowner Wayne M. has counseled many families looking for the American Dream – and those living through a real-life nightmare.

It’s been more the latter in recent years, as hard-hit homeowners struggle with their mortgage payments and try to fend off foreclosure. Many cash-strapped homeowners ask for help months after they get behind on their mortgage and have received multiple late payment notices from their servicer.

“Some people are very reluctant” to ask for help, says Wayne, a homeownership counselor for Neighborhood Housing Services of Los Angeles County. “You ignore the problem; you think it will go away. You just try to forget about it.”

But it doesn’t. Just ask Wayne.

His full-time job is to help homeowners apply for government assistance programs such as Keep Your Home California. Wayne is also a client of the state-run program. He was recently approved for the Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program, which offers as much as $25,000 to help homeowners catch up on their mortgage payments.

“Just a little tweak and you can get people back to normal,” he says. “The little tweak really helped me out.”

Now, the Los Angeles County homeowner is back on track with his mortgage payments and his financial footing.

“Basically, it bought me some time … gave me some breathing room,” says Wayne, who is married and has three children. “I talk it up at events, even when I’m in the grocery store. I’m not only a counselor, but a client.”

His firsthand experience helps homeowners interested in the program.

“They’re a lot more receptive” when they learn of his participation in the federally funded program. “They see that you really have their interest and you know their situation.”

But he says more homeowners need to look into the program.

“It doesn’t make sense for people not to try and for banks not to participate,” Wayne says. “It can work for so many people.”

Retired teacher Alpha R. got a firsthand lesson on the sometimes fast-paced foreclosure process – and the home-saving help from Keep Your Home California.

When Alpha got behind on her mortgage payments and received a foreclosure notice from her mortgage servicer in early 2012, she needed quick action to save her home in Yucca Valley in the High Desert of Southern California.

“I bugged everybody; I even called my Congressman’s office,” says Alpha, who was raised in New York City but has also lived in Atlanta, Tucson, and Virginia.

Then, she came across a housing counseling agency that made her aware of Keep Your Home California. She quickly completed the documents in hopes of stopping the foreclosure.

“I was scrambling to put the paperwork together,” says Alpha, who was playing beat the clock with the mortgage servicer. “There was literally a man outside my gate one day (looking to purchase the property).”

She applied for Keep Your Home California’s Mortgage Reinstatement Assistance Program, which offers as much as $25,000 to help hard-hit homeowners catch up on their payments. Alpha received $20,000 from the state-run program, enough money to get her back on track.

“It was tough, but it was doable,” Alpha says of the paperwork needed for the program. “Keep Your Home California was very smooth, very efficient.”

Now, Alpha can focus on a new project. She has opened a healing facility that encourages others to eat healthier and meditate.

“This is my purpose,” says the retired public school teacher for emotionally challenged students. “I still have things to do up here.”

With financial assistance from Keep Your Home California program, Alpha can turn her attention toward helping others.

“It was the best program I’ve ever run into,” says Alpha, who tells friends about the free, federally funded program. “There is something positive out there. You don’t have to give up.”