The Obama administration yesterday announced a "beefed-up program that will allow eligible jobless homeowners to skip part or all of their monthly payments for 12 months or more while they search for a new job," according to an article in today's edition of The New York Times by Andrew Martin.

"While officials could not say now many homeowners might quality for the extended grace period, they predicted that tens of thousands would benefit," the article said, adding that "certain homeowners have been eligible to skip payments for three or four months, far shorter than most unemployed people need to get back on their feet."

On Wednesday, President Obama acknowledged that the administration had "come up short" in helping struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure, and said "we're going back to the drawing board, talking to banks, try to put some pressure on them to work with people who have mortgages to see if we can make further adjustments, and also see if there may be circumstances where reducing principal is appropriate."

"Mortgage servicers whose loans are backed by Federal Housing Administration insurance will be required to offer payment deferments to eligible homeowners," the article said, adding that "roughly 14 percent of active mortgages re backed by federal insurance."

The changes will not apply to loans owned or guaranteed by the big mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which account for roughly half of all mortgages, the article said.

"The administration originally predicted that the Housing Affordable Modification Program would help three million to four million homeowners, but to date, there have been roughly 730,000 permanent loan modifications. And while Congress has set aside $46 billion as part of the huge bank bailout to help struggling programs, the administration has spent slightly less than $2 billion of the money," the article said.