A pilot program to prevent foreclosures in Lee County will get a statewide rollout in February, pending federal approval, state officials said Wednesday.

The program, begun six weeks ago, is barely off the ground but will be spread across Florida. The state has $1 billion in federal funds to spend on the program, courtesy of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008.

Lee County was chosen to participate in the Housing Finance Agency’s Hardest Hit Fund because, since the housing bubble burst, it consistently has had one of the highest foreclosure rates in the nation.

The pilot program started in October, and while there are many trying to get assistance through the program, its parameters and requirements and the lack of participation on behalf of mortgage servicers has meant the program has stumbled out of the blocks.

So far, the program has received 823 applications. More than 230 were declined because they didn’t meet the income or housing requirements or had incomplete applications. Some 547 applications remain under review, and only 14 mortgages are receiving payments under the program. Another 70 applications have been approved but are unable to receive help because the mortgage service company won’t accept payments from HHF.

Officials from the Florida Housing Finance Corp., the state agency tapped to run the program, say that mortgage servicers are beginning to get on board with the program now that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage handlers, have signed on.

“One thing that has helped has been the guidance from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac saying, ‘We’re the investor, we own these loans, you have to accept those payments,’” said David Westcott, director of homeownership programs for FHFC.

To qualify for assistance, those in danger of foreclosure must be unemployed or underemployed, use the home as a primary residence, not own another residence, have monthly mortgage payments that are 31 percent of their income, and not be more than 180 days past due.

The narrow range of people being helped by the HHF led some legislators to dampen their enthusiasm for the program.

“I just want to be sure we’re not giving people false hope. It’s a cruel thing to perpetrate another instance of false hope for people. You’re leading them down a primrose path and it's just going to be another dead end,” said Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico.

Because the program’s assistance is limited to 18 months, it is reliant on an economic recovery that includes job creation in order for it to be a bridge to safety for those in danger of losing their home while looking for work.

“For it to be successful, you’re assuming that someone can be re-employed during the 18 months of assistance. Otherwise, you may have helped them for 18 months but it’s not going to prevent them from losing their home," Westcott said.

Meanwhile, Florida’s courts are jammed with foreclosure cases that were not prevented. In many cases, the mortgage lenders or the homeowners are taking advantage of a broken system.

Foreclosure courts were already dealing with an overflow of cases when it was discovered recently that many lenders were using law firms as “foreclosure mills” -- mortgage servicers that try to push through the cases as fast as possible, using faulty or fraudulent paperwork.

The result is a vastly overloaded system. As of June 30, there was a backlog of more than 462,000 cases in Florida.

Judge Jennifer D. Bailey is “in the trenches” of the mess. The Miami-Dade County judge recently concluded 75 straight days of dealing with foreclosure cases. In all, she heard about 1,300 cases. About 700 of those were adjudicated, she estimates, while the others received stays.

More stays are being asked for because of the recent scandal of foreclosure mills. They used “robo-signers” to sign paperwork without reviewing the case.

While many cases are uncontested, those who sign affidavits on cases they clearly haven’t reviewed are holding up the process.