The foreclosure crisis is going to get worse before it gets better.

That was the message government and community leaders heard Wednesday at a summit sponsored by the Virginia Foreclosure Prevention Task Force in Richmond. Virginia's foreclosure rate is only about half the national rate of 2.47 percent, but it's rising much more rapidly than the U.S. average.

Panelists at the summit said the rate is expected to continue to climb as more borrowers' adjustable rate mortgage payments increase. They expect the situation to eventually improve, largely because the subprime mortgage market is drying up.