Under a foreclosure law effective last April, homeowners get a 30-day extension to contact a HUD counselor before the lender is allowed to proceed with legal action.

But according to a report from Woodstock Institute, since the Illinois Homeowner Protection Act went into effect, some HUD-certified counselors are struggling to meet the increasing demand for their services.

Ofelia Navarro, U.S. Housing and Urban Development counselor and executive director of the Spanish Coalition for Housing, said her office has reached capacity and there is a backlog of clients who are waiting to see counselors. There are no appointments available until December, she said.

“It seems like it’s never ending,” Navarro said. “The more staff we have, the more clients we have.”

For homeowners in foreclosure, the waitlist could be problematic if time runs out.

“Unfortunately, [lenders] may proceed with them in the foreclosure process,” Navarro said. "We would like to catch people early. But if we don’t catch them early, we still can work with them. It’s not over.”

Navarro’s office is on the Northwest Side in the state's 20^th Legislative District, where there has been a 91.6 percent increase in foreclosures within the past year. State Sen. Iris Martinez (D-Chicago) of the 20^th District said the spike in foreclosures is definitely a crisis in the community.

“The most affected are the Latinos because Latinos invert their money in buying a home,” said Martinez. “They don’t believe in putting money in the stock market.”

Martinez decided to bring her community together due to the overwhelming demand from those facing foreclosure. From 9:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m Saturday at the Save Your Home event, members of the Belmont Cragin community who are facing foreclosure can meet with lenders, attorneys and HUD counselors at Aspira Early College, 3986 W. Barry Ave. 

“We’re going to bring everyone who is involved in the housing there so they can provide some kind of assistance,” Martinez said.

Martinez said the overwhelming demand at their HUD office arose because Belmont Cragin residents stay inside of their community when looking for services. Debbie Wills, spokeswoman for HUD's Chicago office, said the average wait to see a HUD counselor is 3-5 days.

“You can go straight to HUD, but many people don’t travel outside of their community. You don’t have to wait,” said Martinez.

Navarro said the answer is not that simple.

“They choose us sometimes because they prefer the counseling in Spanish,” said Navarro, “or because they have gone to other places and they have not gotten the results that they needed.”

More staffing would solve the problem, but more staffing means more money.

“I’d like to tell HUD that we need more funding to hire more staff,” Navarro said. “I think we need more resources.”