It’s time for New York Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer to move past the spate of political distractions that have dogged his administration and revive the bold populist warrior he was in years past. With the 2008 legislative session and his January State of the State speech approaching, Spitzer has the perfect opportunity to establish a clean slate and blast open the morass of partisan gridlock that has surrounded his most recent efforts at reform.

And there is no better issue with which to do that than tackling New York’s subprime lending crisis by calling for a six-month moratorium on home foreclosures.

Addressing this housing crisis in a real way would allow Spitzer to do what he does best — take on powerful moneyed interests on behalf of average New Yorkers. Most ordinary New Yorkers care about providing a home and a comfortable life for their families. That simple aspiration is under attack right now as Wall Street-backed predatory lenders move in to recoup on their losses by foreclosing on the homes of the tens of thousands of New Yorkers to whom they knowingly provided loans that couldn’t be repaid in order to make billions of dollars in short-term profits.

As anyone who’s been on the planet for the last few months knows, the foreclosure crisis is out of control. The problem is particularly aggravated in New York State, which is experiencing the fifth highest rate of foreclosures in the nation. A report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors estimated that 1.4 million homes will be foreclosed on nationally in 2008, causing a loss to homeowners of more than $316 billion.

As banks foreclose on homes, property values for surrounding homes depreciate, putting everyone’s economic security in jeopardy. A recent study by the Center for Responsible Lending predicts that in Nassau County, where 9,450 foreclosures are expected in 2008, the property values of as many as 549,000 surrounding homes will nosedive by an average of $7,100.

New York needs to follow in the footsteps of states like Minnesota and adopt sensible regulations to prevent mortgage lenders from continuing to make irresponsible loans in the future, but these reforms will take time to work. In the short term, put an immediate halt to foreclosures. With Bush’s anemic proposal to assist homeowners meeting with lukewarm responses, the table is set for Spitzer to send a bold message that New York State is capable of leading the nation in addressing one of the most pressing issues of our time. There is already a growing movement within the State Senate’s Democratic Conference to propose a six-month foreclosures moratorium. By ensuring the passage of such legislation, Spitzer could regain lost allies and start to build the kind of broad-based coalition necessary to move legislation on other pressing issues affecting working families.

Joel Barkin is executive director of Progressive States Network. Andrea Batista Schlesinger is executive director of the Drum Major Institute.