New York’s efforts to limit foreclosures often in vain

Despite Herculean efforts to stem the rising tide of foreclosures, New York State faces an estimated 100,000 impending foreclosure cases, the New York Times reported.

New York has been relatively aggressive in the foreclosure arena, granting new legal protections to borrowers and turning the courts into “negotiation centers working to keep people in their homes,” the Times said. But despite the state’s intentions, the situation seems to be worsening. “We are a shining example of somebody’s best efforts falling short through no fault of our own,” Paul Lewis, a senior official in the New York court system, told the Times.

Mounds of paperwork and a lack of funding to provide borrowers attorneys are partly to blame, the paper said. But it is not immediately clear how the system can be modified so that foreclosure cases can get through the system more quickly. [NYT]