On October 1st, the Hope for Homeowners program was put into action, costing over $300 billion, and designed to help prevent foreclosures, it was expected to assist over 400,000 struggling homeowners. It is for those who spend over 31% of their income on their mortgage payments, and any with loans made after January 1^st of this year, are excluded from applying. Those who fit the guidelines of the program would be allowed to exchange their risky loans for a more secure 30 year fixed rate loan, with a lower rate. However, in the first 2 weeks of the program, only 42 applications were received, and as they generally take about 60 days to process, none have been approved yet. It is now speculated that only 20,000 will be assisted.

A spokesman for the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Steve O´Halloran, said that the 20,000 estimate was "an extremely preliminary estimate of early applications for a program that is barely a month old. Borrowers and lenders are continuing to sign up." The program may be slow to take off or get support from lenders and borrowers as lenders have to voluntarily reduce the loan value, hence losing money. Also, for all borrowers who sell after having signed up, they have to agree to share some of the profit gained with the government. Borrowers must also persuade their lenders to join the program. To date, it seems that on the banking side, they would prefer deferring payment or accepting partial payments, as well as lowering interest rates, rather then a principal reduction.

Mortgage industry consultant, Howard Glaser, commented on the occurrences being seen with the program, saying "It just reinforces that none of the federal efforts to date seem to be getting the job done,...There's just no question that when a new president and Congress come back to town, they're going to take much more aggressive intervention." According to John Courson, the chief operating officer of the Mortgage Bankers Association, the program is a last ditch effort, "We've said from the start that it would be a tool that would be used after other loss mitigation programs and opportunities would be exhausted,".