RICHMOND (KCBS) – Richmond city leaders were moving ahead with a plan to head off the foreclosure crisis, a plan that is not without controversy.

The city has offered to buy more than 600 underwater mortgages at below the homes’ current value.

“If they are unwilling to negotiate a sale of the loans, which we want them to do, then we will consider using eminent domain as another option to purchase these loans at fair market value,” said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin.