One day after President Obama signed the economic recovery package into law, he started working through his next challenge: the housing crisis. Here are the meat and potatoes of his proposed plan, which the administration argues will help as many as 9 million American homeowners refinance their mortgages or avert foreclosure. Wonk Room offers more details:

One program is aimed at 4 million to 5 million homeowners struggling with loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac to help them refinance their mortgages through the two institutions.

A separate program would potentially help 3 million to 4 million homeowners by allowing them to modify their mortgages to lower monthly interest rates through any participating lender. Under this plan, the lender would voluntarily lower the interest rate, and the government would provide subsidies to the lender.

Sen. Dick Durbin’s bankruptcy court provision was not included in the bill but was identified as another “comprehensive measure” the administration supports. Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she’s working to complete a bill that will allow judge’s to modify mortgage terms.

So what’s the consensus among left-of-center housing wonks? While imperfect, it’s a step in the right direction and a dramatic improvement over the foreclosure prevention plans of the Bush administration.

Pat Garafalo, Wonk Room:

This plan’s mere existence is refreshing, as the Bush administration over and over avoided addressing the housing crisis with anything stronger than a purely voluntary program for lenders, without incentives or requirements.

David Abromowitz, Center for American Progress:

The Obama plan is a welcome change of course from the last few years, on 3 counts: The plan clearly places foreclosure prevention at the forefront of the overall economic recovery battle. Rather than hoping the modifications might occur as a benefit that would somehow flow from pumping more funds into banks, the plan plainly recognizes the basic facts: If over 10 million more families face the loss of their homes, then surrounding neighborhoods with 5 or 10 times that many families are all cutting back spending and shrinking the economy rapidly. What companies will be borrowing and expanding to sell more products if consumers are still scrimping, cutting costs and staying home?

Barbara Sard, Center for Budget and Policy Priorities:

The plan looks very good in a number of respects … On the sub-prime piece … Instead of focusing either only on people who are already behind on their mortgages or only on those who have kept up—that was kind of a tension between Congress and the administration before—it basically does both. You can be eligible for the write-down on your mortgages if you kept up and in some cases if you haven’t.

Alyssa Katz raises some red flags, explaining that it’s very tricky to modify mortgages that are sliced up and securitized multiple times. But housing advocates have to feel pretty good about the initial roll-out. Now, Democrats must push hard for Durbin's measure. Given how concerned Republicans are with the foreclosure crisis, that should be easy, right?