The goals that were set by the Obama Administration to help homeowners use mortgage modification to avoid foreclosure have not been met. Congress offered an assessment of the program, and said that the Treasury Department did not clarify what the program’s objectives should be.

Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, noted that the bailout program was successful in avoiding an economic collapse, but that the mortgage-modification program was not working because “It’s too slow. It’s too small.”

There have been 390,000 homeowners who have had permanently modified mortgage terms, compared to the three to four million consumers that were supposed to receive assistance. Herbert M. Allison Jr. is the assistant Treasury secretary that oversees the bailout program. He said that the criticisms were overstated and that the program had provided assistance to 1.3 million homeowners.

The mortgage assistance program offers incentive payments to mortgage servicers if they modify their mortgages. However, for a consumer to qualify for a mortgage modification, they must prove that they are going through economic hardship, have a certain debt-to-income ratio of 31% or less, and prove that they actually live in the home. Many homeowners are having difficulty proving that they meet these criteria.