Last week, a group of housing activists showed up at Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's office demanding to know why he hasn't spent a dime of the estimated $15 million collected in foreclosure filing fees on mediation services, which are proven to help people hang onto their homes. "Where is that money going?" asked Michelle Young of the group Action Now. 

After trying to land a meeting with Stroger for nearly a year, Action Now was finally invited to sit down with him yesterday afternoon. But Stroger ended up inexplicably "detained," Young tells us. To his credit, Chief Judge of the Cook County Circuit Courts Tim Evans made the meeting. And Action Now members tell us that Evans has agreed to recommend that the county finally set more resources aside, beginning with $3 million over the coming year. A measure is expected to be introduced at next week's county board meeting.

"Mediation has been effective in other places," Young tells us, "but we need the money to fund it."  Florida's Miami-Dade County is a prime example. Since making mediation mandatory earlier this year, 78 percent -- or 465 of the 599 foreclosure cases scheduled -- were settled in the local courts. While these local efforts are no substitute for a real loan modification program at the federal level, the fact that Cook County continues to pull in millions from foreclosure filing fees presents a logical revenue source for such a program.  And the need remains real.  As the Federal Reserve of Chicago has pointed out (PDF), a glut of vacant, lender-owned properties tends to "weaken [homeowners'] interest in reinvesting in their property," thus diminishing "the safety and security of the neighborhood" and straining public services elsewhere.

We'll be watching carefully to see if the Stroger administration helps push the proposal through as part of the county budget. "At least that would give people a fighting chance," says Action Now's Marsha Godard.