As the tide of foreclosure continues to wreak havoc to the housing industry, mortgage giant Fannie Mae has decided to bury the hatchet and work with one of its most vocal critics — Neighborhood Assistance Corp of America.

Top economic adviser of President Barack Obama and National Economic Council head Lawrence Summers is open to the possibility that more money will be allocated to bailout financial institutions and reduce the number of foreclosed homes in the country.

Newly-installed U.S. President Barack Obama has outlined economic challenges that he and his administration will prioritize in his inaugural address. He also presented several remedies to these challenges that he hope will lead to the country’s economic recovery.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was forced to go out of the Jamaica courthouse last Friday for interrupting an auction in foreclosures.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced he is going to spend the $24 million given by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to repair foreclosed homes and then resell them under a scheme that would prevent a repeat of past administrations’ costly acquisition and management of dilapidated housing inventories.

There has been much anticipation as to whether the second half of the $700 billion bailout fund would be released or not. The Obama administration is looking forward to its first legislative triumph if ever the outcome on Thursday favours them. Part of the funds will be used for foreclosure prevention measures.

A website foreclosure-tracking service reports that the country reached almost 1 million foreclosures in 2008. The figures show a big increase to 63.5 percent.

President-elect Barack Obama promised last Monday that he will perform better than former President George Bush in using bailout funds to help the American population. He gave the statement during the formal asking for the turnover of the other half of the said fund which is worth $700 billion. He further said that his focus will be on housing, particularly foreclosure prevention.

Obama announced last Monday that the second half of the $700 billion bailout fund would be utilized with specific consideration to the foreclosure crisis. Also, he said that his administration would be practicing utmost transparency and accountability in implementing the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). However, he did not elaborate on how the money would be spent.

Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd recently said that lawmakers were demanding to see more concrete action from government before it approves the release of the remaining $350 billion bailout funds for foreclosure prevention allotted by the Bush administration.