Nonprofit groups that work with distressed borrowers are adjusting their practices to reach more individuals who are having trouble paying their mortgages, reports Reuters. While the demand for nonprofit services in this area is increasing, in many cases the budgets and staff sizes of these groups are not. Many nonprofit leaders have therefore found that holding large information classes for borrowers seems the only way to cope with demand.

As Michael van Zalingen, director of home-ownership services at Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago, explained in January when his class drew 70 concerned borrowers in South Side Chicago: “A year ago we couldn’t have got 10 people to attend one of these classes. Today we had to turn away about 35 people.”

The goal of nonprofit programs such as Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago is to reach borrowers and either help them get a loan they can afford or get truly distressed borrowers to put their homes up for sale before it is too late. Those who eventually go into foreclosure receive information about the lending scams they may face.

Mark Seifert, executive director of the East Side Organizing Project in Cleveland, which has three counselors on staff, explains that his group would prefer to do as much individual counseling as possible. But, he added, “If I wanted to do only individual counseling, I’d need five more counselors.”

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