June 12th, 2009
An article in the Doylestown Intelligencer describes The Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program, a pilot program of the county courts system, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania and the Bucks County Bar Association.
Beginning the week of July 6, Bucks County residents served with mortgage foreclosure papers will also receive an "urgent notice" announcing a free program that could help them stay in their homes. After meeting with a housing counselor, the homeowner will have a conference scheduled with a representative of the lender and a volunteer attorney and retired Judge Isaac Garb. The goal will be to help the parties work out a plan to avoid a foreclosure and allow the borrower to stay in their home.
People concerned with losing their homes to foreclosure can call the Don't Borrow Trouble Helpline, 1-888-275-8843.
Low income residents needing help with foreclosure, eviction or other housing or credit problems can call Legal Aid's toll-free regional helpline, 1-877-429-5994.
To read the full text of the article, click on title above.
April 2nd, 2009
Harvey Strauss, Esq., Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania Co-Executive Director announced today that the organization recently received funding from a number of new funding sources to support its work helping frail and vulnerable older adults in the four-county suburban region with a range of legal issues including consumer law and predatory lending, landlord-tenant problems and mortgage foreclosure, obtaining public benefits and income supports, and a range of end of life legal issues.
"We are enormously grateful to these funders, which have experienced the same adverse economic conditions as the rest of us, for seeing the importance of preserving and expanding basic legal help for some of the most needy individuals in the region," said Strauss. "Because of this funding, for the first time we will be able to reach a significant group of underserved older adults in Chester County, expand our Senior Advocate program in Delaware County and improve coordination of elder law services across the four counties".
The new funding sources include:
A 3-year grant from The Pew Fund for Health and Human Services to support Legal Aid's four-county Elder Law program;
A grant from the Coming of Age program sponsored by WHYY, United Way and the Temple Center for Intergenerational Living to support the expansion of Legal Aid's Senior Advocate program in the City of Chester;
A grant from the Taylor Community Foundation to support Senior Advocate volunteer legal assistance in the senior centers in Folsom and Sharon Hill;
First-time funding from the Chester County Department of Aging Services for general elder law services in that county.
March 31st, 2009
Legal Aid of Southeastern PA (LASP) Board President Elizabeth Price was one of 10 people from around Pennsylvania to be recognized with a Pennsylvania Legal Aid Network (PLAN) Excellence Award at the awards dinner held Tuesday, March 31 at the Harrisburg Hilton. Elizabeth Price, who is Executive Director of the Delaware County Bar Association and a member of the Legal Aid Board of Directors since its inception in 2001, was recognized for her extraordinary volunteer leadership in support of Legal Service clients.
March 3rd, 2009
In a March 1,2009 article in the Bucks County Courier Times, Legal Aid of Southeastern Pennsylvania Co-Executive Director Liz Fritsch describes a mortgage foreclosure diversionary program which is being established through a collaboration between Legal Aid, the Bucks County Bar Association and the Bucks County Courts.
According to the article, Bucks County foreclosure filings "have increased from a monthly average of 95 in 2006 to 124 in 2007 to 148 last year". The project which is still being finalized will give homeowners the option of participating in a mediation process with the lender before a foreclosure can go through.
According to Fritsch, "Legal Aid already has a help line staffed by an attorney and paralegal 'who have a lot of experience with reading and interpreting various legal documents...If a caller fits Legal Aid's income eligibility guidelines, it may be able to help. If not, the case would be referred to county court administration (for) a mediation session with the resident, a volunteer attorney and the lender".
Fritsch notes that despite federal assistance that is being made available to homeowners, the program is still needed. "I'm afraid the people who are already behind and losing jobs and in houses they can't afford haven't gotten the help they need yet."
