This Aug. 8 photo shows a foreclosure sign in front of a home in Los Angeles, Calif. The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering plan to tackle the foreclosure crisis.

Washington ? The Obama administration is trying to jump-start its sputtering attempts to tackle the foreclosure crisis with an effort to assist homeowners who owe more on their properties than their homes are worth.

Starting Tuesday, the Federal Housing Administration will permit lenders to give these borrowers refinanced loans backed by the government.

The lenders will be required to forgive at least 10 percent of the original mortgage amount. Investors who have control over the mortgages as part of their large portfolios will select which borrowers are invited to participate.

The plan was first announced in March. Its rollout represents the latest of numerous efforts by the administration to address the housing bust. So far, the government has only nibbled around the edges of the crisis, as its programs have run into numerous problems.

The lending industry was ill-prepared for a crush of distressed homeowners, the economy worsened and millions of homeowners had taken on so much debt that their financial woes have been nearly impossible to resolve.

Nearly half of the 1.3 million homeowners who have enrolled in the Obama administration’s main mortgage-relief program — overseen by the Treasury Department — have already fallen out over the past year.

Many borrowers say the government program is a bureaucratic nightmare.

Other notable business news:

• Capital city’s debt mounts amid political feud. Pennsylvania’s financially troubled capital city is trying to avoid painful budget cuts while city leaders feud over how to deal with a staggering debt that is threatening to drag the city into bankruptcy. With Harrisburg’s newly elected mayor and city council at odds, the city is taking the rare step of skipping a $3.3 million general obligation bond payment due Sept. 15 as an alternative to laying off city employees, firefighters and police officers. The city already has skipped millions of dollars in payments on bonds it backed for the costly and poorly managed renovation of a trash incinerator, including a $2.2 million installment due Sept. 1.