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Recognizing Judge Annette M. Rizzo for her involvement in the ground-breaking Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program and thanking her for her hard work and tireless dedication to families throughout the City of Philadelphia by preventing thousands of mortgage foreclosures and helping thousands of Philadelphians resolve complications regarding their Mortgage payments.
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WHEREAS, The Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program was initiated in April 2008 by the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas to assist families facing eviction from their homes through foreclosure; and
WHEREAS, The three-part program begins with an initial meeting between the homeowner and a housing counselor where they discuss and formulate a loan resolution package. Following this meeting, a conciliation conference is scheduled where proposals to cure the mortgage default are negotiated by the lender's attorney and the homeowner in an attempt to restructure the original mortgage agreement; these courtroom meetings encourage a proactive approach to the problem, as well as compromise between lenders and homeowners. The Door-to-Door Outreach was designed to raise homeowner awareness of the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program. Through this program outreach workers have made more than 3,000 visits to 2,400 properties and increased overall participation in the program by 12 percent. Also, the SaveYourHomePhilly Hotline and counseling service provides legal assistance and additional information about the Program to besieged homeowners throughout the City of Philadelphia; and
WHEREAS, With 860,000 property foreclosures in 2008 throughout the United States, the Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Program has effectively addressed this crisis and prevented thousands of mortgage foreclosures throughout the City of Philadelphia. This is reinforced by the fact that 78 percent of those who participated in the program's June 2008 conciliation conferences were s...
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