August 4, 2008 Worcester neighborhood hit hard by housing crisis Play video

(Danica Pecirep, NECN: Worcester, MA) - Thousands of Massachusetts families have lost their homes to foreclosure. Nowhere is the crisis worse than one neighborhood in Worcester, where there's been a rash of foreclosures.

Those who live on Preston Street in Worcester are feeling the strain of the foreclosure crisis.

We have four on this street and four more on Jakes Street that they've foreclosed- you know they can't pay the mortgage anymore.

Yolanda Matias lives in the neighborhood where those homes have been foreclosed. "There was this one family that just cried- I saw her crying and she had lost her house and she had so many dreams and so many hopes- and she couldn't do it."

Worcester officials say more than 50 families every month have lost their homes to foreclosure this year.

Last week, president Bush signed into law a massive housing rescue bill. 300 billion dollars to help 400,000 families facing foreclosure. It will help some people who are on the verge of losing their homes with the ability to refinance at a lower interest mortgage so they can keep their homes- we don't want anymore people to have to lose their homes.

The bill includes in local grants to help neighborhoods like Matias's. Despite the crisis, she's holding out hope for the future.