“When I bought this house, it was a dream fulfilled,” says Mero.

But he says his dream has become a nightmare. Mero's mortgage will reset this November and he says he won't be able to afford the higher payments. He, like many borrowers, feel betrayed by the very people they trusted.

Some New York homeowners could be helped by new law

Shazia Khan has more on how a new law could help some New York homeowners.

But there may be some relief in sight for Mero with the signing of the new federal housing law. Its provisions include a plan to help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure by allowing them to refinance into more affordable, fixed-rate mortgages insured by the government – but only if the lender agrees.

“There’s an appraisal done on the house and then the bank can lend and is insured up to 90 percent of that value,” said Ismene Speliotis, executive director of the not-for-profit housing counseling agency ACORN NYC. “So what the lender has to do for that kind of insured loan that they would offer to the borrower is eat the difference between whatever the original loan was written at and the current value.”

The law set aside $300 billion for the new loans. Speliotis, says while the new program is a step in the right direction, it will hardly turn the foreclosure crisis around.

“It’s not going to help everybody,” says Speliotis. “There are people that are not going to fit; there are lenders that are not going to take it up; and there are borrowers for whom it won’t be option that actually works for them.”

Speliotis says the law is complicated and advises counseling with not for profit agencies to navigate the process. Mero, who has been working with ACORN, hopes the new law will help him keep his home.

“It will be very nice,” says Mero. “I didn't just buy the house just for me, it was for my family to live in, to enjoy it.”