It's sometimes hard to ask for help, even when one desperately needs it.

   People might be embarrassed, hopeless or not even aware assistance is available.

Workers at the nonprofit Housing Alliance of York aren't waiting for financially troubled homeowners to reach out to them.

They plan to use a tax claim database to find and contact the 7,000 to 14,000 York County homeowners in arrears on their property taxes.

The idea is to develop an affordable tax payment plan for these folks and to offer them counseling services that might help them keep their homes, since delinquency and foreclosure often go hand in hand.

The York County Tax Claim Bureau has similar programs for senior citizens and people who have been laid off or suffered some other hardship.

Times have been tough over the past few years for a lot of people, absolutely awful for some of them.

An unexpected job loss or a medical emergency might have been the last straw for those who were just barely holding on.

The assistance offered by the Housing Alliance and the Tax Claim Bureau isn't a handout -- it's a way to help these people meet their obligations, but in a manageable way, given their circumstances.

Helping them get back on surer financial footings is good for the rest of us, since they'll once again be contributing their fair share in taxes to the county coffer.

More importantly, these are our neighbors.

And we want to see them weather their financial storms, perhaps stave off foreclosures, simply because of that.