Turns out that if government wants to help keep people in their homes, it can do it — by forcing banks and irresponsible borrowers to talk things out.  Peter Goodman of the New York Times brings some relief on this question in describing a Philadelphia, PA program that has “enabled hundreds of trouble borrowers to retain their homes.” Last year a Philadelphia court ruled that

no owner-occupied house may be foreclosed on and sold by the sheriff’s office before a ‘conciliation conference,’ a face-to-face meeting between the homeowner and the lender aimed at striking a workable compromise.

Goodman writes that other U.S. cities have adopted similar programs (Louisville, for example), giving people breathing space and often more-affordable mortgages.  You do have to wonder, though, if the presence of NY Times photographer Angel Franco didn’t make a few conciliations at the Philadelphia courthouse just a little more conciliatory.

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