The issues with foreclosure in Connecticut have decreased in the last decade as the have across most of the country, but the Community Renewal Team in Hartford doesn’t see that as a reason to end the state’s foreclosure mediation program.

According to Elizabeth Horton Sheff, who serves as the director of community services for the Community Renewal Team, the calls continue to roll in for assistance. She says she gets about two or three per day looking for help from people across the state. The callers are in trouble with their mortgage payment and need someone to intervene before foreclosure moves forward.

Connecticut’s General Assembly voted recently to extend the program, which was scheduled to expire at the end of June. The program will continue for at least another four years, assuming the legislature agrees to pay for the extension.

The state’s governor did not include funding for the program in his latest budget proposal but he did say he supports its continuation. He believes it might be possible to include the funds for the program in the state’s court system budget expenses since the number of foreclosures is on the decline. According to one state representative, the program will cost just under $2 million a year to run for the next two years and he believes it should continue to run as a standalone program.

Nearly 3000 homeowners qualified for the program in 2018, which was down from about 3800 the year before and a massive decline from 2008 when the program assisted nearly 10,000 homeowners. Over the course of the 10 years the program has been operating, more than 70 percent of those who qualified for assistance were able to work out new terms for their mortgages and remain in their homes.