A recent government attempt to rescue homeowners from foreclosures is likely to post dismal results, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program was designed as part of the Frank-Dodd mortgage bill last year to aid recently unemployed homeowners who are behind on their mortgage payments. At this point though, HUD expects only 10,000 to 15,000 people to qualify by this Friday’s deadline. With roughly 100,000 total applicants, the program could certainly be called less-than-effective.

The plan was to offer interest-free loans that could even be forgiven later to borrowers who had lost 15 percent or more of their income. They also had to be at least 90 days late on their home loans and could demonstrate that once they found a new job, they could afford their monthly payments again. These requirements proved to be too much for most applicants as HUD used a very complicated set of calculations to determine eligibility. Also, borrowers could not be too far behind on their payments, and they couldn’t have lost their job more than a year ago.

“No one could have anticipated how difficult the statutory requirements make it to reach homeowners,” said Lemar Wooley, a HUD spokesman, as quoted in a CNN article.

Not only were the requirements too stringent for many, but the timing of the program limited its effectiveness. It was initially delayed by several months and then officially started at the end of June. Originally, HUD was only going to allow applicants to apply for six weeks, but ended up giving about a two-and-a-half month window.

For those that do qualify, they could receive up to $50,000 or 24 months of aid, depending on which is fulfilled first. HUD expects that average aid pay out to be between $35,000 and $45,000. Only about half of the allocated $1 billion will probably end up being used for this program.