Courtroom 676: Ground Zero For Philly Foreclosure Diversion Program

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Daily News reports:

• [O]n any Thursday, City Hall Courtroom 676 looks and feels more like a swap meet than a court. Under a high, ornate ceiling, painted in palatial gold and dark red, the huge, marble-walled room, illuminated by four brilliant chandeliers, is filled with the constant buzz of deal-making, demands, counterproposals and compromise.

• A grandfather clock is stuck on 6:46, the only nonmoving object of the perpetual-motion machine that is Foreclosure Prevention Court. Except for the empty judge's bench, every usable square foot of space, including the jury box, is crammed with humanity - lenders' lawyers talking with borrowers' lawyers, housing counselors talking with both, a hundred or more homeowners in danger of losing their houses waiting silently to find out their fate, their eyes filled with equal parts fear and hope. Tears are not uncommon.

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• Because of the incredible volunteer response by hundreds of Philadelphia lawyers, [Common Pleas Judge Annette] Rizzo said, the foreclosure-prevention program is costing the cash-poor city nothing. [...] It works so well, Rizzo said, that Philadelphia is serving as the model for foreclosure-prevention programs in Boston, Pittsburgh, Cook County (Illinois), Prince George's County (Maryland), Louisville and the entire state of New Jersey. Courtroom 676 has a steady stream of observers from across the country, searching for a way to stem the tidal wave of foreclosures.

For more, see The miracle of Courtroom 676: Saving lives, one address at a time.

In a related Philadelphia Daily News story, see For foreclosure-prevention help, just dial 215-334-HOME:

• [T]he foreclosure-prevention program's lawyers and counselors charge nothing, and, unlike the heavily advertised hype artists, they have saved hundreds of homes. "All you have to do is call our Save Your Home Philly Hotline - 215-334-HOME - and a Community Legal Services lawyer will get you into the program," [mayoral adviser Terry] Gillen said.

Go here for more on Philadelphia's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program.