BY TODD SPANGLER, FREE PRESS WASHINGTON STAFF

Michigan is among five states getting money under a $1.5-billion program announced Friday to help struggling homeowners, but it’s unclear how many people will be helped or how the program would work.

Funds will be targeted to states that have seen the worst drop in home values — Michigan, Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.

It’s unknown how much each state will get.

Among the five, Michigan’s experience has been the least severe: Online real estate Web site Zillow says values are off from their 2005 peak by about 28%; financial services information management firm Fiserv puts Michigan’s drop in home values at 35%.

That compares with Nevada, which has seen home values drop as much as 56% in three years.President Barack Obama said the new program will “help out-of-work homeowners avoid preventable foreclosures” as well as let homeowners who are upside-down in their mortgages — owing more than their homes are worth — “find a way to pay their mortgages that works for both the borrowers and the lenders alike.”

Read more here: http://www.freep.com/article/20100220/NEWS06/2200327/1320/Michigan-to-share-in-1.5B-for-homeowners