ALBANY (AP) - State lawmakers are hoping that $25 million in counseling and legal assistance approved this month will be enough to help people with subprime mortgages like Collery avoid losing their homes.

That's more than 60 times the $388,000 set aside for mortgage counseling last year.

The U.S. housing downturn has spooked investors around the world and sent stock markets on a rocky ride since August. As home prices continue to fall, foreclosure rates soar and dozens of lenders have shuttered their doors.

Subprime loans target marginal borrowers with weak credit or questionable incomes who previously might not have gotten a loan at all. An estimated 2 million adjustable rate mortgages started resetting last year at sharply higher interest rates, which caused monthly payments to rise sharply.

At least nine states including New York are proposing bills that would give homeowners better access to foreclosure counseling.

The latest New York state budget dedicates $347 million to affordable housing issues - nearly tripling the amount of assistance offered in each of the past 10 years.

---

On the Net:

If you are looking for a foreclosure counselor:http://www.nw.org/network/home.asp

For advice from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development: http://www.hud.gov/foreclosure/index.cfm

The New York state Division of Housing and Community Renewal: http://www.dhcr.state.ny.us/

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)