LAS VEGAS -- Washington is stepping in to help people facing foreclosure.

On Wednesday, the Senate "agreed in principle" to a measure that may help millions of families facing foreclosure.

The scaled-back proposal was released by Senate majority leader Harry Reid.

It contains a combination of ideas aimed at boosting demand for housing and helping homeowners saddled with subprime mortgages avoid foreclosure.

The measure includes $4 billion in grants to local governments to buy and refurbish homes.

It also offers a $7,000 tax credit for people buying new homes or properties in foreclosure.

"This is a crisis. We have to work together. We can both go and do separate press avails. The time has come for us to legislate, not continue our bickering," Reid said.

Reid said he hopes the measure will pass quickly, but it faces a flurry of amendments from senators on both sides of the aisle.

Some people facing foreclosure said they think it's a good idea, and one that is long overdue.

Nevada has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country.

Wendy Shaff is one of the many who lost her home to the adjustable rate.

"It was very heart wrenching and very sad for our whole family. We loved that neighborhood and we loved our neighbors in that neighborhood," Shaff said.

For the first time in 19 years, Shaff is a renter.

“We lived in a little, tiny house for 15 years and put everything in that house. And then we were finally in our dream house, ready to spend the rest of our lives in, and now, all that's gone," she said.

And it's not just individual homeowners who are being burned by the mortgage meltdown.

Developers in the Valley are going belly up before their projects are completed.

Construction on the Vantage project in Henderson has completely stopped.

The senate is also trying to make it easier for the banks to work with the homeowner.

Shaff said she had tried to work with her bank for six months with no luck.