On Saturday, the Connecticut Post published the following op-ed by Senator Chris Dodd on the housing crisis. Senator Dodd is Chairman of the Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee.

Turn on the television or open a newspaper, and you can't avoid it: Today's crisis in our mortgage markets has led to a historic - and, for many, tragic - increase in home foreclosures.

Across the country, about 7,500 homes enter into foreclosure each day. Connecticut has not been immune to this crisis; by the end of last year, our state had 10,000 homes in foreclosure - homes owned by thousands of families who risk losing everything they have built their lives around.

As chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which oversees our nation's housing policy, I have been focusing much of my attention on this crisis; indeed, as far back as 2006, I was among the first to sound the alarm, urging action be taken before the problem began to spread.

Today, our challenge is to keep this crisis from eroding our entire economy, and to help honest, hardworking families, facing the daunting prospect of foreclosure through no fault of their own, keep their homes.

Homeowners like Donna Pearce - a grandmother from Bridgeport who was a victim of the sub-prime mortgage crisis.

When Donna purchased her home, she had concerns about the adjustable rate mortgage, but like too many other victims her lender told her not to worry and reassured her that she would be able to refinance in six months.

Six months later, she learned that refinancing would cost her thousands of dollars in penalties that she did not budget for, and could not afford.

Donna was just one payment away from losing her home when she reached out to a community-based organization called ACORN for help. After a four-month fight, Donna was able to rework her mortgage and save her home. But countless others like her have not been so fortunate.

The truth is, statistics alone cannot capture the full scope of this crisis.

Recently, the Senate approved bipartisan legislation that will help lessen the effects of foreclosures, including assistance to local governments to purchase and sell abandoned properties, which only drag down the property value of neighboring homes.

But we have an obligation to go beyond that to help homeowners before a foreclosure occurs.

As such, I am working hard to advance my plan, the Hope for Homeowners Act, which creates a new initiative to help American homeowners on the brink of losing their homes.

Put simply, this bill will help homeowners convert mortgages that they often were lured into by predatory lenders into new loans they can afford. It encourages lenders to provide homeowners with more manageable mortgages, taking into account their ability to repay the loan.

In exchange, the new loan would be insured by the government, providing a safety net to the lenders. With homeowners in mortgages with much more reasonable terms, they are better equipped to stave off foreclosure and stay in their homes.

One thing is clear: The American people do not want to "bail out" anyone who acted irresponsibly.

Neither do I, which is why I've designed this bill to ensure everyone foots their share of the costs - homeowners, lenders and investors alike.

Lenders who pushed people into these loans will have to accept some losses to participate in the program.

Homeowners do not get a free ride, either; they will share their new home equity and future appreciation equally with the taxpayer, in addition to paying standard rates for the government insurance.

And speculators and investors who got burned because they wrongly thought they could flip a property for a quick profit won't be allowed to participate in the program at all.

With so much of the American economy dependent on a vibrant, thriving housing sector - from appliance sales to manufacturing - inaction in the face of this crisis is simply not an option.

Indeed, after months of stalling and reassurances from the Bush administration, Americans have already waited too long for their leaders to address a crisis they knew was coming for a long time.

The hour is late.

This week, the Senate Banking Committee will take up this proposal and I am hopeful it will receive bipartisan support. At stake is nothing less than the future of homeownership - the cornerstone of the American dream.

Ensuring that dream does not become a nightmare for Connecticut families as it almost did for Donna Pearce is the task before us. The time to act is now.