The City of Chicago is expanding it efforts to help people facing foreclosure and is sponsoring a series of Borrower Outreach Days, where homebuyers can take advantage of loan work-out sessions with counselors and lenders, access to free legal assistance, various workshops and information about the city's financial literacy programs.

The latest Borrower Outreach Days event was held Saturday, December 1, 2007 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Humboldt Park Field House, 1400 N. Sacramento Avenue.

"As we all know, today we're seeing record numbers of foreclosures, as homeowners struggle to meet mortgage payments that have grown beyond their means. Chicago is doing better than some other cities, but the numbers are still far too high," Acting Housing Commissioner Ellen Sahli said.

"Many of the foreclosures were in low-income neighborhoods, but people of all income levels are affected. Good, credit-worthy people can get over-extended, and the result can be bad for them and for their neighborhoods."

In the first half of 2007, 6,329 foreclosures were filed in the city. That number is up from 4,695 in the same period in 2006.

Borrower Outreach Days are aimed at getting information to the people who need it most, Sahli said. "These outreach sessions are for those who might already find themselves in over their heads with their mortgage payments and for those who want to make sure it doesn't happen to them," she said.

Borrower Outreach Days are co-sponsored by the office of City Treasurer Stephanie Neely and conducted at Chicago Park District facilities in and around communities that have been hardest hit by foreclosures.

Two other Borrower Outreach Days will be held in January 2008: Thursday, January 10, 2008 at South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 South Shore Drive from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Wednesday, January 30, 2008 at Tuley Park Field House, 501 E. 90th Place, from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Borrower Outreach Days build on the City's existing foreclosure prevention program known as the Homeownership Preservation Initiative, or HOPI. Under HOPI, anyone having trouble paying their mortgage can find a financial counselor simply by 311, the city's non-emergency number.

Since 2003, HOPI has counseled and educated nearly 5,400 Chicagoans, prevented more than 1,500 foreclosures, reclaimed more than 350 vacant, troubled buildings from foreclosure, and rehabbed them into affordable housing.

Under the leadership of Mayor Richard M. Daley, the City will continue its efforts to bring borrowers and lenders together with such initiatives as Borrower Outreach Days and other programs.

For more information about Borrower Outreach Days, call 311 or to register for Borrower Outreach Days call Christie Rivera at the Department of Housing at 312-744-8514.