The City of Philadelphia's Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program: Addressing the Rising Tide of Foreclosure

Ira Goldstein, Colin Weidig and Charles Boateng

Housing Policy Debate, 2013, vol. 23, issue 1, 233-258

Abstract: As the foreclosure crisis was intensifying in 2008, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas stepped in and created the Philadelphia Residential Mortgage Foreclosure Diversion Program. Together with the City of Philadelphia and a steering committee of stakeholders, the particulars of this program were shaped and reshaped at various times after it began. Philadelphia was among the first cities to create a program, although there are many today. Diversion Programs vary greatly in structure and eligibility criteria, but what is common is the general lack of data descriptive of what the intervention has accomplished. Our analysis of 28,000 Court Orders on 16,000 foreclosure cases shows that (a) the program annually addresses more than 60% of Philadelphia's foreclosure case filings, (b) approximately 70% of eligible homeowners participated, (c) 35% of those who participated reached an agreement with their lender/servicer, and (d) of the first year's agreements, 85% of homeowners remained in their homes 20+ months post-agreement. All of this was accomplished without significant delay in case processing time or expenditure of Court resources.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1080/10511482.2012.749934

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