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OVER THE LAST few years, Americans have faced countless challenges we couldn’t have easily predicted: a global pandemic, war in Ukraine, supply chain snarls, a roiling economy — including recent bank collapses — and skyrocketing housing costs amidst all of it.

But we could have predicted what was to follow: a volatile housing market and inflation at levels we have not seen since the 1970s. Household budgets for people with low and middle incomes are being put to the test, and many homeowners are turning to increased credit card spending to sustain their cost of living expenses. Most troubling, home foreclosure stats are on the rise nationwide.

For many Americans, particularly in communities of color, hard work alone is no longer enough to maintain homeownership. Inflation has caused households to spend an average of $445 more per month on the same items they purchased just a year ago. Higher energy prices are driving up the costs of heating a home by 27 percent nationwide, with steeper increases in Massachusetts (up 64 percent for electricity), Illinois (up 50 percent for natural gas), and New York City (up 32 percent for natural gas). In fact, the number of households applying for assistance in paying their utility bills is the highest in over 10 years.

The once-booming housing market, fueled by real estate investors and limited supply, is on the decline. If investors and remote workers, who fled larger cities for new buying opportunities, decide to sell en masse, we may see a new level of home price volatility.

Sharp decreases in property values limit homeowners’ ability to tap into home equity. Thousands of homeowners are just one financial hardship away from foreclosure, and now is the time to ensure that resources are available for them. Americans that are working hard to pay their mortgage should not have to live with the constant uncertainty that they may lose their homes.

While the housing crash of the late aughts doesn’t exactly mirror what we’re seeing in today’s market, it taught us significant lessons that we must apply now. In 2008, the government was slow to respond to the damage done by predatory private lenders. Trapped in underwater mortgages they couldn’t afford, many homeowners were left with no solutions other than going into default and ultimately losing their homes. And while recently the government has taken two distinct steps to help protect struggling homeowners, it hasn’t been enough.

In 2020, Congress approved and funded the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF), which was successful in staving off evictions by distributing over $9 billion in funding to help homeowners impacted by COVID-19 cover mortgage payments, homeowner’s insurance, utility bills, and other housing expenses. And until the end of 2021, a federal foreclosure moratorium protected homeowners from evictions and foreclosures during the height of the pandemic. But, the foreclosure moratorium is over and HAF funds have run out in many states, leaving some homeowners without access to these vital resources.

In the absence of government assistance for homeowners facing foreclosure, nonprofits can help fill the gap. One example is BlueHub SUN, a lending program that refinances or buys people’s homes and resells them back to the homeowner with a new mortgage they can afford. These types of solutions are desperately needed, as homeowner inquiries into BlueHub SUN are on an upward trend across the 11 states BlueHub SUN serves, with the highest activity centered in New Jersey, Michigan, and Ohio.

There’s no time to waste on government action, but in the meantime, we must depend on nonprofits. As Americans with lower incomes are stretching their budgets to deal with inflation, rising energy costs, and higher interest rates, and the country inches closer to a recession, people are already losing their jobs, and even worse, their homes.

All the elements are in place for a potential housing crash, but it is avoidable. Congress needs to act quickly to support homeowners at the brink of eviction. To stave off a new wave of mass foreclosures in 2023, Congress must approve new legislation and funding that empowers Americans to maintain homeownership during this turbulent time. New funding can keep resources available and create new lifelines that will stop evictions before they happen.

Elyse Cherry is CEO of Boston-based BlueHub Capital, a nonprofit community development financing organization. It operates BlueHub SUN, which serves 11 states, including Massachusetts.