(via)

Only about a third of the homeowners who have successfully completed the trial period of the Obama administration’s mortgage modification program have been offered permanent relief, according to new federal data obtained by the Huffington Post.

The conversion rate — about 33 percent — is woefully short of what the Treasury Department had forecast. Treasury thought the rate would be “ranging up to 75 percent,” Herbert M. Allison Jr., assistant secretary for financial stability, told the Congressional Oversight Panel in October.

Honestly, when the HuffPo is harder on an Obama program than I am, someone had silly expectations (ok, the Treasury Department forecast 75%, but remember that our Treasury Secretary is largely responsible for the Asian currency crisis, was the regulator in charge of AIG when it failed, and couldn’t figure out how to properly use TurboTax). A 33% success rate is phenomenal for any rescue program. Remember, these are people who would be foreclosed on in absence of the program.

Now, we can debate whether or not such a program is a worthwhile expenditure (and I fall into the “nay” category on that one), but can you imagine a program that converts delinquent borrowers into “current” homeowners at anywhere near a 33% success rate in this housing environment that wouldn’t be an open door for fraud an abuse? I mean, aside from the government simply buying people houses (‘cause that’s not ripe for abuse)? Did anyone actually buy the 75% figure anyway?

Of course, many of these people will still end up getting foreclosed on at some point in the future, but absent significant principle reductions, that’s just a fact of life. This program still exceeded rational expectations. Also, it’s nowhere near as stupid as the homebuyer tax credit, which cost taxpayers an amount greater than the median home price for each additional home sold (yes, it would have been more efficient for the government to simply buy people homes. Now who has a problem with HAMP?—Aside from me, that is).