Nearly 17 percent of Tampa Bay homeowners haven't paid their mortgages for at least three months.

The February report by First American CoreLogic shows mortgage delinquencies rising steadily for more than a year. From February 2009 to February 2010, delinquencies increased from 10.84 percent to 16.96 percent of all residential mortgages, making mincemeat of such government anti-foreclosure measures as Making Home Affordable. Florida's 90-day delinquency rate was even worse at 19.39 percent. The U.S. rate was 8.78 percent.

Unusually high unemployment, combined with stiff housing depreciation, has pushed more homeowners into default.