Most homeowners are too embarrassed or humiliated to come forward, preferring to suffer in silence, he told the audience.

"The foreclosure epidemic is about very bad things happening to good people," Perez said, in an interview before the event. "Ultimately it was also people who were taken advantage of by unscrupulous brokers operating in a nonexistent regulatory framework."

Housing counselors joined elected and appointed officials at the Community Foreclosure Forum held by DLLR to talk to an audience of 25 gathered in downtown Frederick at the Weinberg Center for the Arts.

"If you remember one and only one thing tonight, it is that you do not need to suffer in silence," Perez said.

He has been present at similar events held around the state to educate and provide outreach to people who could lose their homes.

Today in Baltimore, Gov. Martin O'Malley will begin a foreclosure prevention campaign to help mitigate the rise in foreclosures and ensure Maryland homeowners are aware of the programs available to find assistance and relief, according to a release from his office.

"People are simultaneously frightened, embarrassed and not armed with sufficient information to feel empowered," Perez said. "As a result, there is an overwhelming sense of powerlessness."

Things in Frederick are nowhere near as bad as they are in Prince George's County, which has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the mid-Atlantic and the highest in Maryland, said Joe Baldi. Baldi is one of two housing counselors with the Frederick Community Action Agency who offer services to foreclosure victims.

"But people don't realize how bad it is here," Baldi continued. "It's the tip of the iceberg, what we're seeing as counselors."

Baldi said he sees 20 foreclosure notices published twice a week in the newspaper.

"We're not seeing 20 people a week," at the FCAA, he said. "They're not calling. That's the biggest mistake they're making, they're not calling. É They're not going to the lenders, they're not coming to us."

According to data from RealtyTrac, an organization that tracks real estate data, Frederick County had 508 foreclosure actions taken in the first quarter of 2008, up from 66 in the first months of 2007. In 2007, 842 foreclosure actions took place.

The foreclosure crisis will be averted only by a partnership between the state and federal governments, Perez said.

To say he's highly critical of the federal government is a gross understatement, Perez said. The state has done its part, Perez said -- O'Malley passed emergency legislation during the session earlier this year to increase how long the foreclosure process takes, and tighten restrictions to prevent predatory lending -- however, the federal government needs to step forward.

Perez said the Bush administration failed to take action, initially blaming the homeowners for not reading the small print on the mortgage they signed up for.

"I'm a lawyer and I don't feel like I understand these documents I've been asked to sign," he said. "I can't imagine what it must be like for homeowners having no legal understanding of what they're being asked to sign."