PROVIDENCE — After taking Mayor David N. Cicilline’s plan to borrow $10 million to address the foreclosure crisis to the brink of passage, the City Council pulled back and appears to have shelved the proposal for now.

Cicilline’s plan would borrow $10 million in federal money for low-interest or no-interest loans to buy or rehabilitate properties that don’t qualify otherwise. The plan attempts to tackle the foreclosure problem by using incentives to get residents back into vacant houses and stop whole neighborhoods from turning into boarded-up wastelands.

The money would be paid back through the city’s annual Community Development Block Grant allotment.

A City Council resolution is needed to actually request the money from the federal government.

Cicilline’s plan has been strongly opposed by local activist groups such as Direct Action for Rights and Equality, which has charged that the plan does not deal with the root of the problem, which they say is to keep more homeowners from losing their homes.

Thursday night, the City Council appeared to heed their arguments. Most bills that are passed out of committee are subsequently approved on the council floor.

But after the Committee on Urban Redevelopment, Renewal and Planning passed the measure on to the council, the committee’s chairwoman, Councilwoman Josephine DiRuzzo, opted instead to pull it back Thursday night.

DiRuzzo said that when it was initially discussed, the plan seemed worthy of support, but many council members subsequently changed their minds.

“Since then, I’ve talked with a lot of my colleagues, and they are very uncomfortable with moving it forward this evening,” she said.

She said there are unanswered questions about the methods and the costs involved.

“We feel we have a lot of work to be done before we even address this,” DiRuzzo said.

The plan inspired some to take a humorous tack in their efforts to see it rejected.

Councilman John J. Lombardi read a “top 10” list of reasons to reject the plan, drafted by one of his constituents, Judith Reilly.

At number eight, Reilly wrote, “Because the proposed loan program devotes little to no money to foreclosure/eviction prevention when the public rates this as its first priority.”

At number 7, Reilly wrote, “Because the affordable house created through this loan would not really be affordable to our existing residents.”

And at number one, Reilly used one of Lombardi’s favorite catchphrases, to his obvious delight.

“At number one, because we have the intestinal fortitude to reject this sham,” he read aloud in the council chambers to cheers from members of some of the social activism groups, including the top ten list’s author.

“It’s just exciting to know that the City Council is really listening to people, and actually knows that the solution to the foreclosure crisis is one that keeps people in their homes,” said Sara Mersha, executive director of DARE.

Council Majority Leader Terrence M. Hassett said that this does not mean the bill is dead, but it can certainly wait to be considered until the council is done deliberating on the city budget, which should be by the end of this month.

“It can happen after the budget is completed, and we can have a full discussion on it,” Hassett said.

dbarbari@projo.com