(ASHEVILLE) -- Many homeowners out of work are getting help to pay their mortgage. Celeste Collins with OnTrack Financial Education and Counseling in Asheville says to have your mortgage paid through the state's Foreclosure Prevention Loan Fund you have to meet several standards.

"You have to either be searching for a job, and that's a certain type of assistance, or be retraining for another job and if you are retraining, we have to get verification of your enrollment in schools or training programs," said Collins.

Transylvania County resident Susan Flint is one of the participants. She said the loan she's getting has been a lifesaver. "It was a dream of mine after coming here from Atlanta to have a little piece of land and it's keeping me from foreclosure and from losing that part of what I was working toward," said Flint.

Nearly half a billion dollars was put into the fund.  Collins said the program will last as long as the money does.

(Thanks to: WWNC)