Sheriff William P. Mullen offered hope -- and a plan -- this week to Allegheny County, Pa., residents faced with losing their homes through mortgage foreclosure.The details have not been worked out yet, but, Mullen said, he envisions his deputies delivering notices for "reconciliation hearings" rather than notices for eviction and sheriff's sales.The hearings, he said, would give beleaguered homeowners the chance to meet with lawyers, lenders and a hearing officer acting as a referee to agree on a reasonable mortgage rate, thus avoiding foreclosure. He proposed the arrangement to Allegheny County Common Pleas President Judge Joseph M. James four weeks ago and has scheduled another meeting next week to discuss it further."The hardest thing to do, and what everybody's complaining about, is getting the lenders to the table to meet with the borrowers," Mullen said. "And Judge James can order that."The sheriff offered what he called "a ray of hope" to more than 125 people attending a community forum Wednesday night in Teamsters Hall in Lawrenceville, Pa. The event was organized by the Allegheny County chapter of ACORN -- the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- that is working to help struggling homeowners.ACORN representatives said foreclosures and the vacant houses that often accompany them lead to rising crime rates and falling property values.ACORN organizer Maryellen Hayden said the group had been hoping the sheriff would agree to a moratorium on foreclosures, but she still hailed his proposal as "a victory.""We're talking and we're still working," said Hayden, who added that when given the opportunity and the cooperation of all parties, ACORN has been able to save the homes of 80 percent of those who turn to the agency for help.Home foreclosures are on the rise nationally. The Center for Responsible Lending estimates that 19 percent of loans made in the United States in 2005 and 2006 will lead to foreclosures.A moratorium on foreclosures, while of dubious legality, is not unheard of. In 1983, then-Common Pleas Judge Nicholas Papadakos, an administrative judge in Allegheny County's Civil Division, ordered a halt to mortgage foreclosures to keep unemployed steel workers from losing their homes.While Mullen said he must continue to carry out court-ordered foreclosures, he said he knew what homeowners were going through because years ago, his sister had cancer and couldn't support herself and almost lost her home."But through the help of her friends and family, she was able to live in her home until the day she died in 2004," he said.ACORN members used the event to meet with residents, advising them and getting them to start filling out paperwork.ACORN leader Linda Lee told of her grandfather buying a home in Pittsburgh and how proud everyone in the family was."And we wanted everyone in our family to be homeowners in Pittsburgh," Lee said.Lee said her family members and friends "did everything they could and thought they did everything right. But predatory lenders took advantage of them.""The same thing is happening all over (the country)," she said. "But this strikes right here. ... And if we don't find a solution today, tomorrow's dreams may never be."Those wishing to contact ACORN can visit the group's Web site at acorn.org.E-mail Dan Majors at dmajors(at)post-gazette.com(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)
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