This is why I think your wish that we step back from the edge is just wishful hoping. I don't think we can do what has to be done in this regard until a genuine crisis forces us, de facto or de jure, to deregulate. Deregulate includes a legal system that is bloated, too quick to accept lawsuits, and too slow to resolve them, as well as a regulatory system that just makes it impossible to do much of anything without a nightmare of paper and oversight.
The president, you will note, DOES have the power to suspend regulations...but the Kenyan adores regulations, the more the merrier, and won't even consider realxing them.
It could happen immediately. No one would need to administer the program, or apply for it or go through an approval process. The minimum requirement might be to file with your taxes some kind of defined proof that you are current on your mortgage.