Faced with growing criticism of its Making Home Affordable foreclosure prevention program, the Obama administration is turning to the tried and true method of advertising to raise public awareness of the program and encourage homeowners who are struggling with their mortgage payments to seek assistance from the federal government.

The Advertising Council, in partnership with the U.S. Treasury and HUD, announced plans Wednesday to launch a national public service announcement (PSA) campaign about the Making Home Affordable program.

Created pro bono by the Kaplan Thaler Group, a New York-based advertising agency, the new campaign is available in English and Spanish and features real homeowners from across the country who have benefited from the program and the free resources made available by the federal government.

Homeowners are directed to MakingHomeAffordable.gov, or to 1-888-995-HOPE to speak with a HUD-

approved housing counselor to see if they may be eligible for assistance to make their mortgage payments more affordable and to understand options they may have to avoid foreclosure.

The Ad Council will distribute the new PSAs to more than 33,000 media outlets nationwide. The campaign includes television, radio, print, out of home, and web advertising. The PSAs will air in advertising space donated by the media.

“Many responsible borrowers continue to face challenges due to unemployment, negative equity, or because of soaring utility payments,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “These public service announcements will help us to reach at-risk borrowers now, while they are still current on their payments and eligible to receive help through the Making Home Affordable program or our expanded options for Federal Housing Administration (FHA) refinancing.”

The Making Home Affordable Program was launched in February 2009 to help homeowners who are at risk of foreclosure make their monthly mortgage payments more affordable. According to Treasury data, homeowners in permanent modifications under the program have a median monthly savings of over $500 or about one-third of their previous payment.

So far, more than 1.5 million homeowners have been offered help under the program, but only 389,198 distressed borrowers are currently in active permanent modifications.

Go to MakingHomeAffordable.gov/psa/about.html for an early peek at the new PSA campaign.