What happened to the assistance for troubled mortgages?

I saw on the news yesterday that only 10,000 mortgages per state were receiving assistance from the federal government or their lender to help bring their mortgages current and avoid foreclosure. Then I read today that according to RealtyTrac that foreclosures are up 23% over quarter three in 2008. In my area we are seeing an increase in foreclosures in the higher end homes, which had not been the case up until this year. I am concerned that we are headed toward the increase in inventory that just seemed to be coming down. We are still not in a stable market, but I had hoped that we were headed in that direction. Do you think we should still offer assistance to those in trouble, or just let the market ride itself out?