There's a fine line between government action aimed at helping in a crisis and unwarranted interference in free markets.

A bill now under consideration in the Massachusetts Legislature — a measure designed to create a six-month moratorium on foreclosures — crosses that line. In fact, these kinds of measures are more likely to worsen the housing crisis than resolve it.

The proposed moratorium is among three bills aimed at providing relief for hard-pressed homeowners. A second bill would let tenants live in foreclosed properties for up to a year. The third would allow homeowners to contest their foreclosures in court, and is similar to laws in 29 other states.

The collapse of the subprime lending market has led to a wave for foreclosures across the country and a housing slump that continues to threaten a worldwide recession. Basically, less-than-well-qualified borrowers opted for variable-rate mortgages whose rates are now being adjusted upward — and they're soaring beyond the homeowners' ability to pay.

The "crisis" may be not be as dire in our Cape Ann communities as in other areas. According to numbers from the Boston-based Warren Group, which tracks real estate issues, Essex County as a whole saw a 268 percent increase in foreclosures last year. Yet the same figures show Cape Ann homeowners lost 25 homes to foreclosure last year, just eight more than in 2006 — an oasis in the foreclosure storm, perhaps.

But there's no assurance the foreclosure wave can't still happen here. And state lawmakers are worried that the rising number of foreclosures will mean a return to blighted neighborhoods filled with boarded-up homes in cities and other communities across the region and commonwealth.

That's a legitimate concern. The question is: How best do we prevent this from happening?

There's a baseless assumption among those who want to "fix" the mortgage crisis that lenders are eager to foreclose on borrowers. They made those subprime loans just so they could foreclose on hapless borrowers and take their property, the thinking goes — and it's wrong.

Banks and mortgage companies generally do everything they can to avoid foreclosing on borrowers. Banks don't want to own residential property. That means expenses for maintenance and management, dealing with tenants and neighbors — a messy business. It's much easier just to make one's money from the interest payment on loans.

"Fixes" like a moratorium are designed to make it more difficult for banks to exercise their final option against borrowers who can't or won't pay, foreclosing to take the property that was put up to secure the loan.

But keeping people in homes they cannot afford is not the way out of the mortgage crisis. It's important to get foreclosed homes back on the market as soon as possible. The only way that will happen is if lenders regain their confidence and start making loans again.

Creating new laws that make it harder for lenders to foreclose and recoup their losses from borrowers who cannot pay does the opposite. These new rules make it less likely that banks and mortgage companies will ease tight credit and begin lending again to anyone with less-than-perfect credit.

A law signed by Gov. Deval Patrick in November already gives borrowers a 90-day window to catch up on payments and work out new terms with lenders before foreclosure begins. If a borrower is in such bad shape that a recovery cannot be made in 90 days, another three months isn't likely to help.

The way out of the mortgage crisis is to help those borrowers with the financial means to do so get back on track. And it's important to get homes that are foreclosed back on the market and sold as quickly as possible.

That will only happen when lenders are willing to take a chance on borrowers again.