White house wants to convert foreclosed houses to rentals

My first thought was, "The federal givernment as my landlord? No thanks!" But he is proposing selling off givernment owned houses in bulk to investors who would then rent them out. If so, let the market do whatever the market wants to do. If the investors want to become landlords, that's okay since the investors now OWN the houses. If they want to bulldoze the houses, that's fine, too. The point is that the investors are now the owners so they are free to do with the property what they will. The federal givernment's arms shouldn't reach past the point of sale.

I agree with Cookie.  

It may seem like a waste to bulldoze houses, but it tends to raise the property value of other houses in the area.  That strategy may be the best one for existing homeowners who are not in default.

I agree with cookie also. The government should not be property owners. Sell them off to investors.

I agree that if they want to sell the properties fine, but their involvement should stop there.   I also agree that after the sale, they should have NO involvement and should certainly not be throwing money at them.

While I think that the idea of selling off government-owned foreclosure properties is a good one, the idea of the government requiring the new owner to rent out the property is a bad one... and it goes beyond the government telling a private citizen what he/she can/can't do with privately owned property.  Let's say that I am an investor.  And let's say that I buy 100 houses in a development that is owned by the government.  I want to raise the houses and put in condos, apartments, or turn it back into a forest.  Whatever.   With this program, I can't do that.  Not only can't I do that but I also (and here is what is really bugging me about this) have to go through a number of federal, state, and local hoops to ensure that the houses comply with all of the regulations required to rent a house - ADA being one of the most costly, in many cases.  Also, if I'm an investor who does rent those houses out, am I required to rent a certain portion out as Section 8 or can I rent to whomever can pay me fair market value? 

There are too many unknown variables in this scenario.  Once again, the good idea fairy strikes without thinking the whole thing through.