(Money Magazine) -- Spring in southern Orange County has come on spectacularly. The autumn fires that blew smoke and ash into neighborhoods here also destroyed a lot of dark-hued scrub and chaparral. Now the hills along the 241 tollway are painted in bright green grasses and yellow and violet wildflowers. Near the end of the 241 lies Ladera Ranch, a nine-year-old (and still growing) planned community of 25,000. Nestled into the foothills, the place is a visual metaphor for the American dream, California division, in which the residents of the postmodern townhouses at the lower elevations aspire to the gated $4 million spreads at the top.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Americans remain split on whether homeowners about to default on their mortgages should receive special treatment to help them keep their houses, according to a new CNN/Opinion Research Poll.

The poll finds 49% of Americans believe such homeowners should receive special treatment, while 48% feel homeowners should not get assistance. Three percent of those polled had no opinion.

The results reflect telephone interviews with 1,008 adults conducted April 28-April 30. The margin of error is plus or minus 3 percentage points.

The poll shows very little change in public opinion on the issue. The same poll conducted in December found 51% of those surveyed favored special treatment, while 46% did not.

Congress also appears split on the issue. On Wednesday, the House began debating Democrat-sponsored legislation that would let the government back loans for homeowners facing foreclosure and would reduce the principal owed on those mortgages. Many Republicans oppose the bill, and President Bush has threatened to veto it.

The proposed legislation would allow the Federal Housing Administration to insure up to $300 billion in new loans over four years.

In order to qualify, lenders would have to cut the debt to no more than 85% of the homes' appraised value. If the FHA-refinanced loans defaulted, the FHA would pay the lender the outstanding principal. 

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Some of the last, best housing markets - the ones that continued to climb even as the rest of the country cratered - have turned south lately.

Seattle, Portland Ore., Charlotte, NC, and Salt Lake City all posted home price gains during 2007, even as more than half of the 150 markets tracked by the National Association of Realtors registered declines. Now they've joined the losers.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The wave of foreclosures sweeping the nation are driven in part by a nearly unprecedented decline in home prices and require a concerted government and private-sector response, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, said Monday.

"Realistic public- and private-sector policies must take into account the fact that traditional foreclosure avoidance strategies may not always work well in the current environment," Bernanke said in a speech before the Columbia School of Business.

Bernanke's comments come as concern about the housing crisis and debate about how to help homeowners