MILWAUKEE - Saving homes from foreclosures: will Milwaukee’s mayor’s plan work? Tom Barrett wants a 60 day hold on foreclosures. The mayor appealed to the top judge in Milwaukee County, asking him to put all foreclosure proceedings on hold. That judge did not give the answer Mayor Barrett was looking for. "We have an epidemic,” realtor Johnny Jones said. Jones experienced the same anxiety suffered by many of his clients when his own home went into foreclosure. "I understand what's going on personally,” Jones said. To keep families in homes, Mayor Barrett asked Chief Judge Jeffrey Kremers to "institute a moratorium on Milwaukee County foreclosure proceedings for 60 days." “The person's out of the home, the financial institution doesn't want the property, the city has now got in a neighborhood another boarded up home,” Mayor Barrett said. In response, Judge Kremers says the mayor's proposal just will not work. "Neither I, nor any individual judge for that matter, can issue the sort of blanket order the mayor is requesting. We simply don't have that authority,” Judge Kremers said. But Mayor Barrett apparently won't take no for an answer. "I've spoken to the judge twice already about this and we're going to continue to see if there's a way we can do this,” Mayor Barrett said. An association representing lending banks came out against the mayor calling his plan "a moral hazard that might actually provide incentive for some people who can afford their mortgage to stop paying." Jones sides with the mayor, but believes homeowners also should take responsibility. “Do not let your house go into foreclosure without fighting back,” Jones said. The mayor says he wants to find some way to get homeowners free or inexpensive face-to-face help. He claims only 3 percent of people facing foreclosure have a lawyer to represent them.