Business As Usual In Philadelphia's Courtroom 676

In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, The New York Times recently ran a story on the proceedings that continue to take place in City Hall Courtroom 676, the home of the city's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Pilot Program:

• Every Thursday morning, the courtroom on the sixth floor of the regal City Hall here is given over to the conciliation conferences. It fills up with volunteer lawyers in jogging shoes, who are representing homeowners; gray-suited corporate lawyers working for mortgage companies; and all variety of delinquent borrowers — elderly citizens leaning on canes, construction workers in coveralls, parents with bored children in tow. The lawyers exchange preliminary settlement terms, while the homeowners fill out papers and wait.

• In some cases, deals are struck that lower monthly payments for borrowers and allow them to retain their homes. When a homeowner cannot afford the home even at modified terms, the program helps to create a graceful exit, in which the borrower accepts cash for vacating the property or signs over the deed in lieu of further payment.

For the story, see Philadelphia Gives Homeowners a Way to Stay Put.