[RicyReetred]

LA Times: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...0,816350.story

Still scrambling to stabilize the struggling housing market, the Obama administration will allow some unemployed homeowners to miss a year of mortgage payments without threat of foreclosure while they try to find a new job.

The expanded assistance — triple the current limit of four months for those with government-insured mortgages — could help "tens of thousands" of people keep their homes, Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan said.

"Helping struggling borrowers avoid default is not only good for those borrowers, it is good for the economy," he said.

But hoping to avoid high expectations that have accompanied other administration foreclosure efforts, Donovan cautioned Thursday that the move wasn't a "silver bullet."