It’s blazing hot outside, so a long line snaking outside the Capital Hilton since this morning couldn’t help but engender some curiosity – and sympathy – from onlookers. Turns out the line waiters are here for the free, five-day long “Save the Dream of Homeownership” event hosted by the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. Michelle Singletary explained the event last week, which invited homeowners in danger of foreclosure to come to D.C. and meet with loan counselors who can help get people into affordable mortgage restructurings right then and there. NACA has reached agreements with a number of big lenders to allow for such restructuring options.

The hook for NACA is that if a homeowner leaves the counseling session without having been able to work out a restructuring with their lender, the advocacy group is offering to accompany them down to the Hill and complain to their congressional representatives in person. Any Hill staffers run into any rejected homeowners today?

UPDATE: Finance reporter Mary Kane is blogging live from the NACA line for the Washington Independent. She says nearly 400 people are in line, and that it only started to get busy last night, even though the event started on Saturday.

Photo by Matt Sedlar