Front page of business section of today’s NYT:  Foreclosed Homeowners Go to Court on Their Own.  An important article that folks can use to advocate for a wide variety of services and programs.  Read it yourselves, but here are some highlights:

• While traditionally people even in judicial foreclosure states have given up, “[t]hat passivity has begun to recede. While many foreclosures are still unopposed, courts are seeing a sharp rise in cases where defendants show up representing themselves.”
• Value of workshops for defendants (here in NM): “But if they can persuade their lender to restructure the loan instead of seizing the house, they have a chance of staying put. In New Mexico, this is where the hourlong workshops come in. “When you cannot pay, this is called ‘a breach of contract,’ ” Angelica Anaya Allen, director of the nonprofit Fair Lending Center, explained to a small but diverse group one recent morning. Young and old, solo and in couples, the homeowners in Ms. Anaya Allen’s class were all in breach, clutching special-delivery packages from their lenders announcing that the machinery was now engaged to evict them. They took notes, asked questions — is the courthouse the building on Fourth Street with the blue roof? — and were resolute if not quite eager for battle.  “I’m not sure where I stand, but I just don’t want to let the house go,” said Ms. Perea.”
• Judicial support:  “Louis McDonald, the chief judge for New Mexico’s 13th Judicial District, welcomes the influx of homeowners defending themselves, known as pro se defendants. “They really want to stay in their houses,” he said. “Some of them have fairly legitimate defenses.”
• Attempts to help take too many resources:  “There are so many of these defendants, and they need so much help understanding the law in a small, overburdened court, that last year Mr. McDonald instituted regular meetings overseen by himself and the district’s two other judges. Volunteer lawyers were on hand to advise the defendants, and the bank lawyers were required to attend.  It was, in effect, a court within the court. But the program used a lot of resources for an uncertain result, so it is being replaced by a less comprehensive clinic. The real solution, Mr. McDonald said, would be “more legal aid.”“
• New York legislative mandate of settlement conferences:  “Then the state legislature directed that the court system hold mandatory settlement conferences to encourage the bank and the homeowner to reach a resolution. More than three-quarters of defendants now come to court, about 32,000 in the first 10 months of last year. But only 12,000 had a lawyer. The rest were in charge of their own fate.”
• Statistics on increased demand: “For the Legal Aid Society of Southwest Ohio, demand for foreclosure help rose 51 percent between May and November last year. “People realized they could fight back,” said Mark Lawson, a senior lawyer with the nonprofit.“
• How important it is to spread word of self-representation options:  ““We were working with the bank, trying to work something out, and now suddenly we’re in foreclosure,” said Mr. Valdez, 39. The couple never realized they could represent themselves in court. “It gives you,” he said, “some sort of hope.””

As to resources and help, do not forget, as described in an earlier post, the upcoming Altanta Legal Aid and National Consumer Law Center Webinar.

See also the Justice Corps Mediation Help Model from Cook County.

Center for American Progress has a June 2010 Report on Foreclosure Mediation Programs and “how to bring them to scale.”

National Center for State Courts, Foreclosure Resource Guide.

Legal Services Corp, Foreclosure Resources.