Denver's Foreclosure Task Force on Thursday outlined more than 30 "best practice ideas" to combat the growing problem of people losing their homes.

The fourth meeting of the month-old task force, which includes city, state and federal officials as well as members of the private sector, comes in the wake of an internal analysis that projected a nearly 400 percent rise in foreclosures in Denver during the past four years.

Other metro-area counties are seeing similar increases. A record 19,425 foreclosures were filed in the metro area last year, although as a percentage of homes and loans, the foreclosure rate was worse in the late 1980s.

The task force said it must address the foreclosure crisis in three major ways: prevention, intervention and stabilization.

Under those broad categories, there are about 30 different approaches. For example, as far as prevention, the task force is looking at public awareness programs, education, language barriers, fraud, refinancing issues and identifying barriers for people asking for help.

Task force member Jan Zavislan, who heads the consumer division for the attorney general's office, said that education may be doomed to failure because getting a loan is such a complex process.

"The process needs to be simplified," Zavislan said. "We need to dumb down the process."

But John Carson, who heads the HUD office for the region, said anyone who is facing trouble with a loan should contact the Denver HUD office. He said early counseling can help reduce foreclosures.

Intervention could include education after homes are purchased, the possibility of emergency funds from short-term loans and the ability to restructure debt and modify loans.

Stabilization includes acquisitions, rehabilitation and neighborhood councils that watch for signs of foreclosures.

City Councilman Rick Garcia, who is co-chairman of the task force, said that special attention must be paid to the negative effects foreclosures have on neighborhoods.

The problem with foreclosures is going to get worse before it gets better, as people saddled with risky adjustable rate mortgages see their monthly payments rise, said real estate attorney Joshua Widoff, the other task force co-chairman.

Zavislan said his office is investigating a case involving an elderly person with a fixed-income of $860 a month who was talked into trading a $400 monthly mortgage payment for one that has risen to more than $1,100 each month.

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