I think we should thank the nation's builders and failed housing gamblers for helping to solve the homeless problem in America

I hope the homeless crash the empty foreclosed homes across America. All I ask is that they mow the lawns and look after the place. There's something poetic about this one. A homeless guy living in a McMansion is just so, well it's just so representative of what's happened in America these past few years.

Seriously, for a "rich and powerful" nation like the United States to have millions go homeless, while at the same time we have millions of unwanted homes, is simply perverse. To have millions go hungry in one of the fattest nations on earth is also amazing.

Gotta give it up to capitalism. It does some really weird things along the way.

Some Homeless People Turn to Empty Houses for Shelter Amid Nation's Foreclosure Crisis

CLEVELAND (AP) -- The nation's foreclosure crisis has led to a painful irony for homeless people: On any given night they are outnumbered in some cities by vacant houses. Some street people are taking advantage of the opportunity by becoming squatters.

"Many homeless people see the foreclosure crisis as an opportunity to find low-cost housing (FREE!) with some privacy," Brian Davis, director of the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless, said in the summary of the latest census of homeless sleeping outside in downtown Cleveland

Graph of the vacant home explosion in America

A picture is worth 1000 vacant homes... thanks to HousingBubbleBust for the ugly graph...

They ain't makin' more land.. but damn, they sure made too many houses during this speculative orgy

I have no idea how the realtortrolls, permabulls and NAR can spin their way out of this one: Unsold Home Inventory Soars as Housing Bubble Deflates

Demand is tanking (people know homes will be cheaper tomorrow)

Supply is exploding (as homedebtor panic sets in).

The available pool of homedebtors is shrinking (thank you subprime wipeout)

It's significantly cheaper to rent than buy today (it's always about the P/E)

Jobs are going away (thank you housing crash vicious circle)

Consumer confidence is plunging (housing crash, oil prices, jobs, iraq)

There should be so surprises to HP'ers. Everything is going exactly as it should. Exactly as it always does post-mania, post-bubble, post-Ponzi Scheme. It was all in the book. Now what will we do with all these damn houses?

Housing glut: From bad to worse - Some markets have seen a tripling of property listings since the housing market has cooled.

CNNMoney.com -- The number of homes for sale in major markets ballooned in April, according to a new industry report, adding further evidence that the U.S. housing slump is still trying to find a bottom.

In April, there were 743,367 existing house and condo properties listed for sale in the 18 major metro areas tracked by ZipRealty, a California-based real estate broker.

That was up 33 percent from a year earlier and 7.2 percent higher than in March.

Some of the markets ZipRealty covers suffered far bigger inventory expansions than the total jump. Los Angeles reported a 39.7 percent leap since April of 2006, Miami climbed 53.9 percent and Seattle soared 63.2 percent.

The year-over-year stats only tell part of the story. Many of the areas covered had already experienced a significant sales slowdown and an expansion of the number of homes for sale well before April 2006.

The once remarkably hot Las Vegas metro market, for example, now has more than double the number of homes on the market - 26,243 compared with 13,238 - than it did in September 2005, when the local housing market was near its peak.

In Los Angeles, inventory has more than tripled since July 2005, as it has in Miami since October 2005. In Phoenix, there were 50,062 homes for sale during April, compared with 11,656 in July 2005, for more than a threefold jump.