In his State of the Union address President Obama announced an initiative designed to help responsible homeowners hold onto their homes — and in turn help the housing market recover. In a later speech he delivered to unveil the administration’s new plan, he called the housing market’s struggles “the single biggest drag on our recovery from a terrible recession…But it is wrong for anybody to suggest that the only option for struggling, responsible homeowners is to sit and wait for the housing market to hit bottom.”

The key aspects of the president’s plan include:

• Broad-based refinancing to help responsible borrowers save an average of $3,000 per year.

• A “Homeowner Bill of Rights,” to assure that borrowers and lenders each follow the same guidelines.

• An initiative to transition foreclosed homes into rental housing in an effort to stabilize neighborhoods and boost property values.

• Giving homeowners who have lost their jobs a full year of forbearance on their mortgages while they look for work.

• Investigating the mortgage origination and servicing abuses that contributed to the housing market’s crash.

• Rehabilitating neighborhoods and reducing foreclosures by increasing incentives for loan modifications that will help borrowers rebuild equity.