BOSTON -- The number of homeowners facing foreclosure in Massachusetts continues to rise, with owners of multi-family homes especially vulnerable.

Rosa Hernandez, a mother of four, is about to lose her Lawrence home. She bought her home five years ago for $160,000. Her mortgage rate has jumped up from 4.5 percent to 7.5 percent.

Hernandez said her lender plans to auction off her home for $99,000, but will not modify her loan for the same amount.

"That says to me that they are being punitive or irrational. It doesn't make sense to kick a family of four out of their home and then sell it for the same price that she would be willing to pay to somebody else," Sen. John Kerry said.

Kerry met with Lawrence housing advocates and state legislators on Monday.

Juan Bonilla, of the Lawrence Community Works, said 40 to 50 families come to him each month looking for help.

"An adjustable rate mortgage, a dual loan that has an interest-only option that is a balloon payment on the second loan -- these are things that the families around here do not understand. But these are the loans programs they were provided with," Bonilla said.

The Warren Group, a Boston-based publisher of real estate data, said Monday that foreclosure petitions totaled more than 2,200 statewide in February. That's up 27 percent from the same month a year earlier.

Foreclosure petitions are a first step that often leads to owners losing their homes.

Foreclosure deeds, in which the owner loses the home, more than doubled to 860 in February.

A disproportionate number of February foreclosure petitions involved two- and three-family homes. The 635 petitions for multifamily homes represented 23 percent of all petitions, but multifamily homes make up 11 percent of the state's housing stock.