CT Fair Housing Center
and the University of Hartford
Join Forces to Offer
Free Clinics for Homeowners
in Foreclosure
Foreclosures in Connecticut have reached their highest point in at least 30 years with 1 in 17 mortgages in foreclosure or more than 90 days past due. Over 60% of homeowners in foreclosure lack legal representation, or any other form of qualified legal guidance. According to a recent Brennan Center for Justice report, nonprofit programs offering legal services across the country are “besieged with requests for foreclosure assistance.”
CT Fair Housing Center is collaborating with the University of Hartford Paralegal Program to expand its Foreclosure Prevention Clinics, offering guidance on how to navigate the judicial foreclosure process and provide one-on-one counseling with volunteer attorneys as well as paralegal students from the University of Hartford Paralegal Program.
These free classes will be held on the third Tuesday of every month at the University of Hartford’s Handel Performing Arts Center Community Room at 35 Westbourne Parkway in Hartford (directions can be found at www.hartford.edu, under site index, directions), starting November 17th at 5:30 p.m., and are open to anyone facing foreclosure. No pre-registration is required. The classes will be taught by an attorney from the CT Fair Housing Center assisted by attorneys who are a part of the Foreclosure Prevention Pro Bono Panel, a project of the Connecticut Fair Housing Center carried out under the auspices of the Connecticut Bar Association. These volunteer attorneys, along with paralegal students, will also be available to meet with individuals at the classes.
“Because the vast majority of students in the Paralegal Program are adult students who are making changes from corporate careers, careers in insurance, accounting, teaching and other professions that have been affected by lay-offs and cut-backs, they are better able to communicate and empathize with the homeowners” stated Deborah Boyle of the Paralegal Program at the University of Hartford. “Paralegal students also feel gratified in using their legal knowledge to help others.”
The CT Fair Housing Center has, in addition, produced a detailed manual to assist individuals as they navigate through the legal process of foreclosure. The self-help manual will be available to homeowners in the classes first and then to the general public.
The Brennan Report further states that “The foreclosure crisis that has bedeviled American citizens and institutions since early 2008 is also a crisis in legal representation. As a direct result of the mortgage crisis, record numbers of American citizens find themselves facing complicated legal proceedings. Many do so without the benefit of legal counsel. And many lose their homes as a result.”
“Connecticut, like every other state in the country, has a severe shortage of legal assistance for homeowners in foreclosure,” stated Erin Kemple, Executive Director of the CT Fair Housing Center. “We were fortunate to get assistance from the State of Connecticut in a very tight fiscal year to be able to offer these important legal services to homeowners. Without such assistance, it is likely that even more homeowners will lose their most important asset, their home.”
These losses not only affect the individual homeowners, but are affecting the stability of neighborhoods in every city and town in Connecticut.
The CT Fair Housing Center’s work on this initiative is funded by the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving as well as the State of Connecticut. For more information about the Connecticut Fair Housing Center’s services, visit www.ctfairhousing.org. Chartered in 1957 with the mission to be a “private university with a public purpose,” the University of Hartford offers undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs in the arts, the humanities, business, engineering and technology, education, and the health professions. The University’s student body of 7,300 represents 45 states and more than 50 countries. For more information, visit www.hartford.edu.