Joe v. Commonwealth

Opinion by

Judge Colins,

Booker T. Joe, homeowner and mortgagor (petitioner), appeals an order of the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency (Agency) which denied his application for emergency mortgage assistance. We must determine the novel question of whether certain financial consequences of a mortgagors alcoholism amount to “financial hardship due to circumstances beyond the mortgagors control” so as to bring him within the purview of Section 404-C of the Homeowners Emergency Assistance Act (Act 91 or Act).1

During 1982, petitioner defaulted on his mortgage payments because, in his words, he…