The US government is working on a landmark plan that could see struggling mortgage-holders having their monthly payments subsidised in an attempt to end the American housing crisis once and for all.

The new plan – which would essentially standardise a myriad of existing mortgage modification programmes within different banks – is expected to sit at the heart of the Obama administration’s programme to kick-start the housing market, a programme that US Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner has already allocated $50bn (£35bn) of bail-out fund towards.

Daily Telegraph, New York Times, Washington Post