Federal program will help struggling homeowners

Struggling California homeowners will have another source of assistance later this year from a federal program giving the state $700 million to devise its own foreclosure-prevention solutions.

While that sounds like a windfall, it’s minuscule compared with the hundreds of thousands of California households in default. That’s why the state will narrowly define who gets help, focusing on low- and moderate-income homeowners who still can make monthly payments and who meet other specific criteria.

“When there are so many people who are delinquent, you have to pick a target,” said Ken Giebel, a spokesman for the California Housing Finance Agency, which developed a proposed plan, available at www.keepyourhomecalifornia.com, and will implement it once the Treasury Department approves it.