Rising Foreclosures Overwhelm Washington, D.C. Area Counseling Organizations

This report discusses the results from surveys of housing counseling and legal service organizations and interviews with social service organizations in the Washington D.C. area. These organizations are working hard to help households in the region cope with the foreclosure crisis. Current counseling capacity is only sufficient to assist a small proportion of households who are behind on their mortgage payments or in foreclosure. In order to fully meet the needs of troubled homeowners and renters, funding for foreclosure prevention counseling needs to be increased and diversified. Improving relationships with servicers is essential to achieving better outcomes for counseled homeowners.