This is the part of the story you don’t here the politicians talking about, or the press corp asking the White House, but it is truly another bad effect of what is happening in the housing market:

In the foreclosure crisis of 2007, thousands of American families are losing their homes without ever missing a payment. They are renters in houses whose owners default on their mortgages — a large but little noticed class of casualties.

Some live in big apartments, others in houses owned by small investors who got in over their heads.

There are no exact figures for how many renters have been evicted because of foreclosures, but a survey taken this year by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that one in eight foreclosures was non-owner-occupied. This figure probably underestimates the problem, according to the association, because buildings receive tax benefits if they are registered as owner-occupied. More than one million properties are expected to enter foreclosure this year.

So you been living good, paying your rent and doing everything by the book. Suddenly one day there’s a knock on the door and you are told you need to vacate the premises. Why? Because your landlord screwed up. This is the exact reason why we need the government to act on this problem. The renter has no idea that their landlord is in trouble, or how they financed the property.

Here is another idea – we have credit checks for people wanting to rent. Perhaps it is time for credit checks on people who want to rent out property. Of course if you ask some they would say that doesn’t sound very capitalistic, but the people of this country deserve better protection than this.