It’s rather straightforward: If you don’t have a job, affording a mortgage is virtually impossible.

In fact, Barry Zigas, director of housing policy for the Consumer Federation of America, today tells the Christian Science Monitor that “the biggest single cause of foreclosure today is loss of income or employment-related issues.”

To treat the problem, and not the symptoms, the Obama administration pledged an additional $3 billion to support foreclosure prevention initiatives, extending beyond the current $75 billion “Making Home Affordable” loan modification program.

Here’s how the extra funds will be spread around:

“… the additional aid will go towards funding a new bridge-loan program for homeowners with reduced incomes in hard hit local areas, although those regions have not yet been specified. The program extends a no-interest loan of up to $50,000, which can last as long as 24 months, to assist homeowners with mortgage payments until they become financially stable.”

Previously, out-of-work homeowners received a three-month forbearance to find work and become eligible for a loan modification. However, with the average length of employment lasting up to 24 weeks (six months) more needed to be done.

The latest initiative is modeled after a successful program in Pennsylvania, which has helped about 45,000 distressed homeowners avoid foreclosure since 1983.

Two years into one of the most alarming recessions in the history of the United States, the Senate today approved the Wall Street financial reform bill, according to the Los Angeles Times.

It’s a “bold” and “controversial” piece of legislation that aims to “prevent financial firms from gouging consumers on mortgages and other financial products.” Risky lending, overstretched borrowers and complex sales of bundled home loans are among the many factors that led to an eventual housing/economic crisis.

From the report:

“The legislation also shuts down the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, which oversees savings and loans. That agency failed to prevent the risky mortgage lending that led to some of the biggest collapses of the crisis, including IndyMac Bank of Pasadena and Washington Mutual Bank, the largest thrift failure in U.S. history. Its duties merge into the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks.”

Of course, the bill, which narrowly made it through Congress, does have its detractors. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is one of them:

“I think it’s going to make credit harder for the American people to get, clearly harder for businesses to get…. It’s just this kind of uncertainty that will deter lending and freeze up credit … [the legislation] will create a vast new unaccountable bureaucracy that will impose onerous new regulations on struggling businesses.”

President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law next week “in an elaborate ceremony touting it as evidence that Democrats are standing up for Main Street against the powerful financial industry and its Republican allies.”

Too little too late or just what the doctor ordered considering the current circumstances?

“Why am I paying for them? We are very frustrated and scared. My husband and I always discuss, ‘Why do we try to better ourselves, when it seems if you do nothing, you get all the help in the world?’”

– Michelle Fry echoes a feeling that many responsible and hardworking homeowners throughout the United States are feeling in a recent FOXNews.com article on the $75 billion foreclosure rescue plan that President Barack Obama recently announced. Fry and her husband earn less than $100,000 combined and are currently upside-down on their home in Atlanta, Georgia. The couple, however, does whatever it takes to ensure that their bills are paid on time. Meanwhile, the national mortgage bailout plan “appears to reward people who bought more house than they could afford and can’t pay their bills.” In fact, according to the article, the foreclosure rescue plan would help eight to nine million mortgage holders — a fraction of the approximately 50 million mortgages outstanding. Is it fair? Should it be?

Late yesterday Congress passed a revised version of the economic stimulus package, which is expected to create jobs (up to 3.5 million of them) and get the economy chugging once again.

The $787 billion plan will be likely signed into law on Tuesday, Feb. 17 by President Barack Obama.

We passed along news earlier this week that the proposed $15,000 tax credit for homebuyers was stripped from the bill even though it has received Senate approval. In a compromise, the existing $7,500 tax credit for first-time homebuyers was increased to $8,000 and extended five months from from July 1 to Dec. 1, 2009.

In addition, and perhaps more important, homebuyers who take advantage of the program are not required to pay back the $8,000 credit unless they sell their homes within three years.

That’s a tantalizing incentive for a lot of folks eager to achieve the American Dream and cash-in while home prices across the board at all-time low levels. Now, they can shave an additional $8,000 of the sale price, which is already drastically reduced if you search for deals on Foreclosure.com.

But what about the people who are struggling to remain in their homes?

President Obama has indicated that he will now shift his focus on the foreclosure issue, as well as other preventative housing initiatives. He is expected to outline his mortgage and foreclosure relief plan later next week during a speech in Phoenix, Ariz., on Wednesday, Feb. 18.

Stay tuned.