Ohio Announces Free Legal Aid to Homeowners Facing Foreclosure
April 4th, 2008 by 
Joseph Smith
In an effort to step up existing programs aimed at curbing the trend in foreclosures throughout the state, Ohio state officials announced on Wednesday plans to provide owners of distressed properties with free legal aid.
The program will become part of the “Save the Dream” program which was launched last month, and will be available to homeowners who can’t afford legal services when dealing with the possibility and ramifications of a foreclosure. The income limit for a family of four to be eligible for the program is $54,000. The program relies heavily on the pro bono work of local attorneys, whom the state petitioned by mail. So far, about 350lawayers have received training in foreclosure prevention tactics form the Ohio State Bar Association, and many more are expected to soon be trained and ready to help homeowners.
Ohio is desperately seeking away to curb homeowner default and foreclosure, after more than 160,000 distressed properties were issued notices of default in 2007, and 89,000 wound up being sold or repossessed through foreclosure proceedings. The move may have been influenced by the work of Massachusetts state officials, who instituted free legal aid to homeowners facing default and foreclosure a month ago.
