Treasury Department Helps Keep More Families in Their Homes

Overview

In early 2009, a government-sponsored program, Making Home Affordable (MHA), was established to provide foreclosure alternatives to homeowners impacted by the financial crisis. MHA is administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) and the U. S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), the first and largest program under MHA, has helped over 1.8 million families save approximately $44 billion in mortgage payments through mortgage modifications that crossed lender and investor types, with the goal of reducing homeowners’ monthly payments to an affordable and sustainable level. MHA programs terminated at the end of 2016

“The amount of investment [in Granicus] returned itself by three or four fold just due to the fact that we can message to the people we need to connect with in a way that we couldn’t before. It’s a game changer.”

Sean Bennett

Situation

With limited time, Treasury needed an option to connect quickly

With 2016 being the last year for homeowners to enroll in Making Home Affordable (MHA), Treasury explored ways to increase visibility in a fast and flexible way in order to increase participation before the program expired. Treasury turned to Granicus for support in targeting their audience who was not yet enrolled and keeping them engaged on an ongoing basis.

Solution

By scaling solutions, Treasury was able to make the greatest impact

With no way to capture website visitors on their website, MakingHomeAffordable.gov, Treasury worked with Granicus to implement an overlay to capture website visitors and sign them up as subscribers to messages sent from the govDelivery Communications Cloud. Treasury began sending MHA e-bulletin updates to subscribers and drove homeowners to their website with valuable information about program features and benefits. By leveraging the govDelivery Network – a tool that allows government organizations to cross promote each other’s content – Treasury was able to connect with prospective audiences that otherwise would have gone untapped.

Results

Rapid audience growth created more opportunities to engage

In under one year, MakingHomeAffordable.gov attracted 80,000 new subscribers. Messages sent with the govDelivery Communications Cloud to subscribers increased web traffic by 18 percent – more than any other source. Visitors from govDelivery Communications Cloud also stay on the MHA website for 67 percent longer than any other traffic source, indicating deeper engagement with target audiences.

A major benefit of Treasury’s use of Granicus was capturing data on prospective applicants and keeping them engaged throughout the year. By sending follow up messages and reminders, subscribers are kept well informed and updated on specifics of the program – something they weren’t able to accomplish before Granicus.