Kane Co. might force mediation to ease foreclosure crisis

Kane County's sheriff and chief judge said Wednesday area foreclosure sales have not slowed at all, but a new program in the works might help keep people in their homes.

Sheriff Pat Perez said there were 847 foreclosed homes that made to sale at auction in 2005. That number skyrocketed to 3,700 in 2009. Perez expressed frustration at having to maintain a neutral position as officers evict families from their homes.

"We're not allowed to give advice, give direction to either side," Perez said. "If we do, we open the county up to litigation and liability."

However, Perez said he'd like to see the county adopt a process already in place in Philadelphia where lenders are forced to meet with homeowners for a possible mediation before the foreclosure sale process is put in motion. Perez said he believes the time for something similar in Kane County has arrived. "It's to the point now where the banks have more homes than they know what to do with," Perez said. "They sit on the market, and it doesn't do anybody any good. There's no tax revenue coming off it. And what we find a lot of times is that once a foreclosure is final, the people that are being foreclosed on will try to contact their lenders, and they don't get return phone calls. They don't get return mail."

Chief Judge F. Keith Brown said he's been in discussions with the civil division of the county courts to create a mediation process similar to what Perez suggested. Brown said the need for such mediation has arisen not only from a public problem, but because of the growing foreclosure case workload the courts must deal with.

While the court workload is an additional cost of doing business for the county, there is an income-generating portion for the county in the foreclosure crisis. Perez said his office brought in $1.1 million in 2009 just from the foreclosures they processed.