In 2004, Polk took out a 30-year, 6.375 percent mortgage for $45,620 with a Countrywide Home Loan office in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. The same day, she also took out an $11,380 line of credit.

Over the next couple of years, Polk missed payments on the 101-year-old home that she and her late husband purchased in 1970. In 2007, Fannie Mae assumed the mortgage and later filed for foreclosure.

Deputies had tried to serve Polk's eviction notice more than 30 times before Wednesday's incident, Sommerville said. She never came to the door, but the notes the deputies left would always disappear, so they knew she was inside and ambulatory, he said. Sommerville said Akron is creating programs to help people keep their homes. "But what do you do when there's just so many people out there and the economy is in the shape that it's in?"

He added that many businesses and individuals have offered to help Polk.

"There's a lot of people like Miss Polk right now. That's the sad thing
about it," said Akron City Council President Marco Sommerville. "They
might not be as old as her; some could be as old as her. This is just a
major problem."

No bailout for them in sight though.