Cook County residents who are facing foreclosure may receive a visit from Action Now/Foreclosure Convening representatives in the near future. Ten groups will be covering Cook County in an attempt to get home owners who are facing foreclosure involved in the Cook County Mortgage Foreclosure Mediation Program. This program seeks to put home owners in touch with mediators and their lenders to work out alternatives to foreclosure such as loan modifications, refinancing and other payment plans.
The program has $3.5 million in funding from the Cook County Board of Commissioners and began on July 1, 2010. This outreach program will put volunteers on the doorsteps of area home owners. The volunteers will explain the benefits of the mediation program and offer to make a call to the county's toll-free helpline then and there. While this program may not produce dramatic results, some positive outcomes will still be an improvement on the status quo.
More information about the program is available here.
To read the article on which this post is based, and to see a frightening look at the number of homes in foreclosure within a 7 block by 5 block area on Chicago's West Side, click here.
