I'm not sure how much the change in the
bankruptcy law has contributed to housing foreclosures, but it's certainly a question which should be examined. The high hurdles put in place to declare bankruptcy at all, let alone the more forgiving Chapter 7 version, have foreclosed (ha ha) it as an option for plenty of people. I imagine general lax lending standards have been the cause of bulk of mortgage problems for people, but it's easy to imagine that the inability to declare bankruptcy under favorable terms has been a factor for a nontrivial segment of the population.
