More than a decade has passed since the global housing market crash pushed thousands of Illinois homeowners into foreclosure.

The economy has since recovered, but NewsNation affiliate WGN found many across the state are still struggling to stay in their homes.

Take the case of Faye and Alan Lovitsch.

The couple, now both in their 80s, fell behind on the mortgage payments for their home in west suburban Wheaton.

In 2017, their lender filed a foreclosure lawsuit in DuPage County Circuit Court. 

“It was terribly frustrating,” Faye Lovitsch said. “All that money was gone. It became difficult for us.”

At a bench trial, the Lovitsch’s attorney, Daniel Khwaja, fought the foreclosure, claiming, among other things, that the lender sent legal notices to the wrong address.

The judge, however, sided with the lender.

“There’s multiple issues in this case,” Khwaja said. “Ultimately, we believe the judge got it wrong.

But here’s where Khwaja said the real issue lies. The couple wanted to stay in the home while a judge heard their appeal.

“We filed a motion to stay with the appellate court – offering fair market value rent,” he said. “We offered $3,100 a month, which is over half their [monthly] income.”

But the lender and a local real estate investor who bought the property in a sheriff’s sale demanded triple that amount, asking more than $10,000 a month, Khwaja said.

To make matters worse, the court denied the Lovitsch’s motion to stay in the property, even before their appeal was decided. Khwaja has defended hundreds of real estate foreclosure cases.

He said this is becoming more common, directly impacting homeowners. Once a stay is denied, he explained, the owner must vacate the property and can’t get their home back, even if they win their appeal.

“I find that this process is very, very broken,” he said. “There’s a lot of people being denied due process.”

The number of foreclosure filings has steadily declined since Illinois counted more than 151,000 in 2010, at the height global economic downturn.

But last year there were still more than 19,000 filings statewide, according to Attom Data Solutions.

The Lovitsch family has moved out of the house. Their appeal is still pending.

Attorneys for the lender and investment firm that now owns the home didn’t respond to requests for comment.