The number of homes listed for sheriff's sale in Allegheny County may be trending downward, but foreclosure proceedings are about to spike as lenders move to recalculate adjustable-rate mortgages, county officials and housing experts told a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing yesterday.

So far, the foreclosure crisis has not hit Allegheny County quite as badly as it has hit other parts of the country, judging from the number of homes listed for sheriff's sales, county Sheriff William Mullen said at hearing presided over by Pennsylvania Sens. Arlen Specter and Bob Casey.

In the field hearing of the U.S. Senate's Judiciary Committee, held in a third-floor courtroom of the County Courthouse, the senators heard from a panel of county officials and homeowner advocates.

The past three years have seen consistent drops in the number of properties listed for sheriff's sales, Mr. Mullen said. In 2006, there were 4,727 properties on the sheriff's sale list. That number went down to 4,632 in 2007 and 4,450 in 2008, he added.

That won't be the case for long, however, because Allegheny County has not yet experienced the resetting of subprime adjustable mortgages by the lenders, said Dan Sullivan, a mortgage foreclosure prevention specialist with Action-Housing Inc., Downtown.

With about 52,000 holders of subprime mortgages about to see their payments balloon, Mr. Sullivan said, it's only a matter of time before the real impact of the foreclosure crisis hits Allegheny County.

It is because of that reality that county officials have made plans to implement a conciliation program in Common Pleas Court to help homeowners affected by the foreclosure crisis negotiate with lenders to keep their homes.

"What we are planning is a simple solution to a difficult problem," said Common Pleas President Judge Joseph James.

His office, together with Mr. Mullen's and the Department of Court Records, plans to implement a mortgage foreclosure program in the next few weeks.

The Home Mortgage Foreclosure Program, Judge James said, will create a 90-day stay -- in essence a suspension of court foreclosure proceedings -- to give homeowners time to consult with lawyers and credit and debt counselors in an effort to stave off the certainty of foreclosure.

The program, which will be implemented at no cost to the county or the courts system, is similar to another such initiative in Philadelphia.

With some 400 foreclosure proceedings initiated in Allegheny County every month, the objective is to create a process in which intermediaries such as pro bono attorneys and foreclosure prevention advocates can work with mortgage lenders and homeowners to reach a settlement before foreclosure proceedings go beyond a point of no return.

Part of the program will include a centralized hot line that will provide struggling homeowners with a network of support services, counselors and attorneys.

The 90-day period gives all involved parties a chance to negotiate. But after that, if there is no resolution, then foreclosure proceedings will continue and the property will go to sheriff's sale, said Judge James.

"Lenders lose money when a house is foreclosed, but they also lose money when that process is delayed," said Michael McKeever, a partner at the Philadelphia law firm Goldbeck McCafferty & McKeever, which represents a number of mortgage lenders.

"What is happening here in Allegheny County is very encouraging," said Sen. Specter, who in November introduced legislation to allow bankruptcy courts to intervene and help both lenders and homeowners reach a settlement in foreclosure negotiations.