Foreclosure Moratorium "Not Required Or Legal", Local Judge Tells Philly City Council

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Daily News reports:

• Common Pleas President Judge C. Darnell Jones told City Council yesterday that a moratorium on sheriff's sales is not "required or legal, quite frankly," to deal with home foreclosures prompted by subprime mortgages. Jones said that the First Judicial District instead is developing a program to offer legal, financial and housing counseling to homeowners at risk for foreclosure. Council last month passed a resolution calling on Jones to approve a moratorium. Sheriff John Green postponed this month's sheriff's sales and said that he would ask Jones to approve a halt to the auctions for six months. "Realistically, it's simply not the answer, because it doesn't help anyone," Jones said after yesterday's Council hearing on the judicial system's budget. [...] "It is unfair to the lenders to paint with a broad brush this need for a moratorium on foreclosure sales," Jones said. Sheriff's sales are due to resume on May 6.

For more, see Judge Jones sees help coming for homeowners.

See also: The Wall Street Journal: Philadelphia Works on Plan To Help Avoid Foreclosures (if no subscription, try here, then click link); and The Philadelphia Inquirer: Phila. plan would spare homeowners facing foreclosure:

• Philadelphia will not impose a moratorium on foreclosure sales, but it will slow the legal process to try to help borrowers avoid the loss of their homes, Common Pleas Court President Judge C. Darnell Jones II said yesterday. Recognizing that anything longer than Sheriff John D. Green's current one-month stay of foreclosure sales would not withstand a legal challenge, Jones announced to City Council a novel plan for a court-supervised process exclusively for owner-occupied properties. diversion program