Supporters contend that the measure will be comparatively simple to execute and less expensive than many other options that have been considered. Mr. Obama’s top advisers have vowed to spend at least $50 billion to help homeowners keep their houses, and they already have the authority to tap the remaining $350 billion in the Treasury Department’s financial industry bailout fund.

“I think it is going to have far more effect on the mortgage servicers and the bondholders than previous proposals,” said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York. “It’s going to have both carrots and sticks.”

One of the biggest headaches in modifying mortgages has been the fact that most loans were bundled into pools, which were then resold as mortgage-backed securities. Mortgage servicers, third-party companies, collect the monthly payments and take action against delinquent borrowers. These companies remain nervous that bondholders will sue them if they make overly generous concessions.

While stumping for his economic stimulus plan last week in Elkhart, Ind., Mr. Obama renewed his call for legislation that would authorize bankruptcy judges to reduce mortgage payments and said he hoped to make the idea “part of our housing package.”

“It turns out you can’t modify that mortgage if you’re in bankruptcy,” the president told residents. “Now that makes no sense. What that’s doing is, it’s forcing a lot of people into foreclosure who potentially would be better off, and the bank would be better off and the community would be better off, if they’re at least making some payments.”

White House officials are likely to release a comprehensive plan on home foreclosures, determined to avoid a repeat of the drubbing that the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, received last week when he released only the outlines of a plan to rescue the nation’s banks, leaving the most important elements to be decided later.

On Wednesday, Mr. Obama will go to Phoenix to outline the plan for rescuing homeowners. He is expected to supply concrete details as well as a timetable for getting the plan off the ground.