WASHINGTON (AP) &<51; After a slow start, the Obama administration&S217;s mortgage relief program has reached one in five eligible homeowners, a government report said Tuesday.

More than 650,000 borrowers, or 20 percent of those eligible, have signed up for trials lasting up to five months, the Treasury Department said Tuesday. The modifications reduce monthly payments to more affordable levels.

Started with great fanfare in March, the plan got off to a weak start, but now nearly 920,000 loan modification offers have been sent to more than 3.2 million eligible homeowners. That works out to 29 percent, up from 15 percent at the end of July.

In California, about 130,000 homeowners have been enrolled in the &S220;Making Home Affordable&S221; loan modification plan, which President Obama introduced in February. That works out to about 19 percent of homeowners who were either two payments behind or in foreclosure at the end of last month, according to Treasury Department data.

Two other hard-hit states, Arizona and Nevada, had similar rates of assistance as California, at 22 percent and 18 percent. Florida, however, was much lower, at 12 percent, possibly because of high numbers of investor-owned properties that did not qualify for the program.

The $50 billion plan got off to a slow start, but government officials say they are pressing the industry to improve performance. Still, many housing advocates have been disappointed with progress and say that getting a loan modification is still a battle.

And economists doubt the Obama administration will reach its broad goal of helping three million to four million borrowers within three years.

Most of the borrowers enrolled so far have been signed up for preliminary trial modifications for up to five months. To make the change permanent, though, they must complete a big stack of paperwork and show they can make their payments on time. The government expects to release details in the coming weeks on permanent modifications.

Mortgage Aid Is Said to Be Reaching More