Foreclosure Relief

The outlines of the Obama administration's and Congress's plans to turn around the housing markets just became clearer. Tops on their list: Ending the foreclosure epidemics in some parts of the country through ambitious new programs designed to rework the terms of hundreds of thousands of mortgages that are now unaffordable.

In a letter to Congress last week, Lawrence Summers, Obama's nominee to head the National Economic Council, said the incoming administration plans to use portions of the remaining $350 billion in "TARP" -- or "Troubled Asset Relief Program" -- money to rework monthly payments for what Summers called "responsible home owners" now facing economic challenges in the recession.