Philadelphia Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Business Journal reports:

• State Rep. Michael McGeehan watched in amazement last Thursday as a group of lawyers, housing counselors, homeowners and court personnel whirred around City Hall Courtroom 676 as part of the city’s foreclosure conciliation conference program. “It’s like organized chaos,” said McGeehan, a Philadelphia Democrat who is sponsoring legislation to make foreclosure prevention programs like the one he was witnessing mandatory in all 67 Pennsylvania counties. “It’s amazing how this room virtually cleared out after the big crowd they started with this morning,” he said.

• Philadelphia Common Pleas Judge Annette M. Rizzo would like to think the foreclosure prevention program she runs has become more organized and produced less chaos as it celebrates its one-year anniversary today. According to the city’s Office of Housing and Community Development, roughly 1,200 homes have been saved from sheriff sale through the program out of 3,380 homeowners who have accessed it. The pilot program serves as a model for other jurisdictions around the country. Rizzo just led a delegation to New York, where they met with Mayor Michael Bloomberg to brief him on the program’s particulars.

For more, see Tally: 1 year old, 1,200 homes saved.