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.”

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.”

Debra says homeowners shouldn’t delay and apply for the program as soon as possible.

Debra T. has a bit of advice for cash-strapped homeowners considering the Keep Your Home California program – don’t delay and call today.

“I kept putting it off,” says Debra, who kept hearing Keep Your Home California commercials on radio station KFRG (better-known as “KFROG” in Southern California). “I didn’t want to hear the word ‘no.’ ”

Eventually, Debra applied for the federally funded, state-run mortgage program early last year and was approved in May 2012. She was approved for $100,000 in principal reduction, the maximum under the Principal Reduction Program.

A servicer-approved loan modification coupled with the Keep Your Home California Principal Reduction Program dropped her principal from $280,000 to $138,000.

“I was so ecstatic.” says Debra, who lives in Bloomington in San Bernardino County. “I’m so thankful that this type of program was available.”

Debra definitely fits the requirements for help from the $2 billion program, established under the Hardest Hit Fund. Her husband died after a long battle with cancer in 2008. He didn’t have life insurance and even with health insurance, the medical bills took their financial toll.

“My biggest fear was losing the house,” says Debra, who has three children at home and her mother living with them as well. “It’s a small house and it’s a little cramped, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She suspects her experience with her mortgage servicer is probably similar to many other homeowners, who are struggling to keep their homes.

“It’s really frustrating to a lot of homeowners,” she says. “I’m sure a lot of homeowners lost their homes because servicers dragged their feet or they were just overwhelmed (with the number of homes and homeowners in trouble).”

But her experience with Keep Your Home California was much better.

“I was really pleased with the response from Keep Your Home California,” Debra says. Her counselor “was very helpful.”

So, Debra strongly encourages homeowners to learn more about the program and apply for the free mortgage help as soon as possible.

“I recommend the program to anyone who is struggling,” she says. “It doesn’t hurt to try.”

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.”

Homeowner Abigail M. has a hard-to-beat connection that introduced her to Keep Your Home California.

When Abigail of Stockton lost her accounting and executive secretary position in the homebuilding industry in late 2010, she was like many Californians — concerned about how to make ends meet, especially her mortgage payments.

“I worried that if we ran out of unemployment benefits, we were going to be homeless,” says Abigail, whose husband was battling kidney cancer and recovering from surgery at the time.

So, Abigail checked into different government housing assistance programs with little luck. She attended foreclosure prevention workshops to learn more about her options. And she even reached out to her local elected representatives and President Obama.

“I found out about the program by writing a letter to President Obama,” says Abigail, who received information about Keep Your Home California from the U.S. Treasury Department. “Thank God, people read those letters.”

Indeed, the department gave her information about the $2 billion mortgage assistance program that was established with federal funding approved by President Obama.

She applied and was approved for the Unemployment Mortgage Assistance Program in November 2011.

“The packet was easy to follow,” Abigail says.

The couple received nine months of mortgage assistance from the state-run program, giving them some financial breathing room during a very difficult period.

“I tell everybody” about Keep Your Home California, says Abigail, adding many homeowners continue to suffer in Stockton, often reported as the hardest-hit community for foreclosures in the nation. “I look at prices in my subdivision, and it breaks my heart. Unfortunately, I’ve run into some high school friends who need help.”

“It’s been a hard road,” Abigail. “If you guys weren’t here, I can’t imagine what would have happened to a lot of us.”