An announcement Monday by the Obama administration that it would do more to help struggling homeowners obtain affordable mortgages could not have come at a better time for Southern Nevadans who are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in their homes.

Steve Green, reporting for LasVegasSun.com, noted that 69.5 percent of Las Vegas area home-owners in September owed more on their mortgages than their homes were worth, according to real estate data firm First American CoreLogic of Santa Ana, Calif. With so many people underwater, Las Vegas remains at grave risk of suffering a prolonged foreclosure crisis that could cause neighborhoods to deteriorate.

The administration, recognizing that stable homeownership is a key to economic recovery, unveiled its Home Affordable Modification Program in March in hopes of curbing high foreclosure rates. The problem is that modifications to more affordable rates have not occurred quickly enough for many eligible homeowners under the program.

The Treasury Department and Housing and Urban Development Department announced that they will attempt to solve that problem by streamlining the application process for homeowners while holding mortgage service companies more accountable for their performance.

Homeowners bear responsibility for completing paperwork in a timely fashion, but those applications should be made easy to fill out. The administration has promised to do just that and has gone the additional step by making housing counselors available. That help can be accessed by calling the HomeownersÕ HOPE Hotline at (888) 995-4673 or by visiting the Web site MakingHomeAffordable.gov.

Mortgage companies, though, will not be allowed to drag their feet. They will be closely monitored by the administration to ensure that applications for mortgage modifications are being processed in a timely fashion.

Companies that fail to comply with the new directives will face possible fines and other sanctions. That is the type of teeth needed to make sure the mortgage program succeeds.