Workshop today in Salt Lake on avoiding foreclosure

The state and Salt Lake City are partnering to offer a free program to educate property owners who are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure.

The one-day program called "Sustaining Homeownership; Foreclosure Prevention Training" is scheduled for today from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Salt Lake Main Library.

The rate of foreclosures in Utah nearly doubled in the first quarter of 2008, rising from 0.64 percent of total mortgage loans to 1.02 percent, according to the Utah Housing Coalition. Some economic forecasters are predicting a possible record 2009 for foreclosures in the state.

The training will help participants talk to accredited nonprofit community agencies that can assist them in working through a foreclosure or delinquency situation, said Tara Rollins, the coalition's executive director.