DAYTON — Government officials and community groups working to help homeowners threatened with foreclosure say a pivotal meeting today, July 28, in Washington, D.C., could stop mortgage company foot-dragging that’s nearly paralyzed their efforts.

Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray said the meeting between top U.S. Treasury officials and executives from mortgage companies is about pushing the industry to do the right thing.

In addition, Cordray said, his office is targeting for a consumer protection lawsuit 10 to 12 of the largest Ohio lenders for falsely claiming commitment to helping clients.

He declined to identify them, but said the lawsuit will be filed very soon unless the corporate behavior changes dramatically — practically overnight.

“They will need to follow through on their commitment they will have an accessible process — calls answered and handled, paperwork will be processed, reasonable response and good faith efforts to process loan work outs when it’s reasonable to expect circumstances to allow a loan workout,” Cordray said. “When they say they will work with people to stay in their homes, they need to work with people to stay in their homes.”

For Alfred Patterson, point man for County Corp’s HomeSaver program to keep at-risk homeowners under roof, said the action can’t come soon enough. He’s steeling himself for a new wave of foreclosures in the Dayton region as upper income homeowners lose jobs and income.

“The problem is getting lenders to negotiate in good faith,” he said. “At this point it’s a logjam.”

The numbers tell the story. Patterson has 120 open files of homeowners seeking a viable home loan workout that could keep them under roof and away from financial disadvantages, short- and long-term.

He’s submitted 40 agreements to finance institutions, but has yet to close a workout. County Corp, the nonprofit economic development arm of Montgomery County, is working with the county recorder’s office to wrestle the foreclosure crisis, which is on track to wipe out 2,400 households in Montgomery County in 2009.

Cordray said the closed-door meeting in Washington is a way to get the administration’s Making Home Affordable program moving.

“Very few loan modifications are actually happening,” Cordray said. “Either they don’t have the capability to do loan modification or they don’t want to, and want to be perceived that they are.”

Prodding the industry is key to the health of Ohio’s economy, Cordray said. “Our view from the state perspective is the economic recovery will begin when the foreclosures stop,” he said.