Five years after the mortgage meltdown sparked a wave of home foreclosures, millions of Americans are still in housing “limbo,” battling to save their homes despite government programs meant to help them.

In January, the government abruptly canceled the review, agreeing to settle a two-year-old enforcement action with 14 lenders over widespread mortgage processing violations. In return, the lenders agreed to make $3.6 billion in payments to borrowers who were harmed, averaging about $1,000 each. Many of the more than four million homeowners originally targeted by the review are still living “in limbo” and no closer to an affordable mortgage.

More than two years after regulators confirmed widespread reports of abusive mortgage practices, the government is making only halting progress in fixing the problem, according to homeowners, their attorneys, housing counselors and public officials.

It’s not only a dilemma for the people caught in the foreclosure noose; it’s also holding back a broader housing recovery and slowing the nation’s economic recovery. The scope of the systemic failure has been widely known for much longer, following widespread reports of lax procedures; flawed, inaccurate or missing documentation; and poor communication with borrowers.

In April, 2011, the nation’s top bank regulator, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, issued a sweeping enforcement action to address “failures and deficiencies” and ordered 14 lenders to fix them “swiftly and comprehensively.”

A year later, targeting many of the same practices, the Department of Justice and 49 state attorneys general signed a detailed agreement with five of the nation’s largest mortgage lenders to adhere to comprehensive new standards in dealing with mortgage borrowers, known as the National Mortgage Settlement.

Lenders were barred from foreclosing while a borrower was applying for a loan modification. Bank representatives notarizing documents had to personally review all relevant information. Lenders were required to provide timely information on the status of a loan and give homeowners a single point of contact, among other new rules.