Forgive us for not jumping up and down with delight over the Obama administration's latest plan, announced Friday, to help stem the tide of foreclosures. The changes will help those who are unemployed, underwater or both. But they have come so late that it's difficult to muster much enthusiasm.

Banks' participation in solving this problem has been optional for too long. The government must require those who caused this debacle to do more to end it.

Since the foreclosure crisis began three years ago, 6.6 million families have lost their homes, according to the Center for Responsible Lending. The problem is not getting better. Eight million households are behind in their payments or in foreclosure, and one in five are underwater — they owe more on their mortgages than their homes are worth.

The administration's primary tool against foreclosures, the year-old Making Home Affordable partnership with lenders, has so far modified the terms of just 200,000 loans. It is not up to this enormous task.

But the changes announced Friday have the potential to improve that record. The program will now be open to the unemployed, who previously couldn't qualify but are a primary victim of foreclosures. They'll be eligible to get up to six months' forbearance and to have their payments lowered to reflect their reduced income, at least for a short time.

Those who owe more than their homes are worth — in California, that's more than a third of borrowers — may finally be able to get their loan principals reduced. This much-needed shift in approach addresses another key driver of foreclosure.

Lenders will get incentives to reduce the amount owed. Borrowers who are current on their payments but underwater — prime candidates to walk away from their mortgages and further weaken the housing market — could refinance into a cheaper government loan.

All of this will help. But the main problem with the government effort remains: It's all carrots, no sticks.

Consumer advocates have been pushing Congress for years to allow bankruptcy judges to modify loan terms for primary residences, which could reduce foreclosures up to 20 percent. The financial industry's army of lobbyists has managed to beat back that idea, known as "cramdown," saying it can deal with the problem on its own and through Making Home Affordable.

That's clearly not the case, because of malice or incompetence. It would be wonderful if politicians gave the same consideration to desperate homeowners that they do to banks. Most everyone facing foreclosure nowadays did nothing wrong — they're simply caught in the cascading wave that began with the subprime mortgage crisis. The same can't be said of the banks that got us into this mess and then took billions in taxpayer bailouts.

Allowing judges to modify loans in bankruptcy would add structure to an overwhelmed system. Reasonable compromises worked out in court would set precedents for lenders to follow. If they didn't, they could be forced to by a judge.

Judges have this power for second homes. There's no good reason they shouldn't have it for every home.