Watchdog: Obama's mortgage relief efforts aren't good enough

The Obama administration's efforts to force the modifications of distressed mortgages, while laudable, is likely to fall far short because the foreclosure crisis has grown and threatens to dwarf government efforts to relieve it, a special congressional watchdog panel warned in a report released Friday. The Congressional Oversight Panel, created to monitor how taxpayer bailout dollars are being spent, warned that the administration's Home Affordable Modification Program, or HAMP, announced in February, seems sure to prove ineffective. "Foreclosures continue every day as Treasury ramps up the program, with foreclosure starts outpacing new HAMP trial modifications at a rate of more than 2 to 1," the report said. From July 2007 through the end of August, 1.8 million homes were lost to foreclosure and 5.2 million more foreclosures were started, the report said. The HAMP program seeks to prevent between 3 million and 4 million foreclosures; on Thursday, the Treasury Department announced that its initial goal of having 500,000 trial mortgage modifications started by Nov. 1 had been met.