Churches urge more help for home owners

A coalition of faith-based groups is lobbying the U.S. government to do more to reduce the number of home foreclosures.

Families are losing their homes and they're on the street, and that's just morally wrong, said Mary Rabon, a spokeswoman for People Improving Communities Through Organizing, a coalition of 1,000 congregations across the country.

The coalition, which wants the federal government to adopt a more streamlined approach to troubled mortgages, last week met with federal officials and held a prayer rally outside the Treasury Building, The Washington Post reported Saturday.

This building behind us has the power to prevent another 2 million foreclosures, said the Rev. Lucy Kolin, a Lutheran pastor from Oakland, Calif.

Under a plan backed by the coalition, any bank that takes federal bailout money would be required to set mortgage payments at no more than 34 percent of a borrower's income, the Post reported.