A plan to channel $1.5 billion to housing agencies in five states hit hardest by the real estate crash has Florida officials hopeful they can keep more people in their homes and out of foreclosure.

President Obama announced the program Friday while in Nevada for a town hall meeting and campaign push for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. The states included in the new program are Nevada, California, Arizona, Florida and Michigan, all of which consistently rank high on any measure of mortgage woe.

But with more than 20 percent of its home loans seriously delinquent or in foreclosure, Florida tops the nation for defaults, according to a Mortgage Bankers Association report also released Friday.

Obama administration officials called the $1.5 billion “modest” considering the depth of the nation’s housing crisis but said they hope it will lead states to come up with innovative solutions tailored to their own needs.

Those solutions are expected to plug holes in the administration’s earlier Making Home Affordable Program, which has struggled to help unemployed homeowners who don’t have the income to qualify for a loan modification.

It also attempts to tackle one of the thorniest issues to come out of the market meltdown – how to cope with upside-down loans where the homeowner owes more than what the property is worth.

About 41 percent of South Florida borrowers, and 55 percent of Treasure Coast borrowers were underwater in December, according to analysts at Zillow.com.

The $1.5 billion in taxpayer money, which is coming from the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program, can be used to help negotiate with lenders to write down mortgages on underwater loans.

“This really could be extraordinary relief that will be very welcome in Florida,” said Jaimie Ross, president of the Florida Housing Coalition. “It’s pretty clear this is a program designed to keep homeowners from losing their homes.”