CitiMortgage, the housing lending subsidiary of Citigroup Inc., announced today that it will temporarily reduce mortgage payments to $500 a month for homeowners who have recently lost their jobs or are unemployed, CNNMoney reported.

“We’re planning to help recently unemployed homeowners by giving them the ability to pay as little as $500 a month on their mortgage, which is effectively less than the price of an average one-bedroom rental nationally,” Sanjiv Das, CitiMortgage’s president and CEO, told CNN Radio.

Homeowners who financed their homes through CitiMortgage are eligible for the monthly payment program, but must submit documents proving they are recent recipients of state unemployment benefits, Das said. The program will last 90 days, and some homeowners may be able to get extensions after the 90 days expire, depending on each individual situation.

“This is intended to keep the neediest borrowers in their homes,” Das said. “We hope to help thousands of customers with this.”

Citigroup has received $45 billion in federal bailout funds, and the federal government recently took a 36 percent stake in the company. Das said CitiMortgage has 1.4 million customers who potentially might seek assistance.