Ok, so this is not the best reason to do something about the foreclosure crisis, but it's an example of one more unexpected effect of leaving many thousands of empty homes just sitting around. Abandoned swimming pools breed mosquitoes, which carry West Nile virus. Some cities are stocking the pools with minnows to eat the mosquito larvae.

At first I thought this must be a hoax, but it seems to be true. (Excerpt from an article about the Phoenix area posted below.)

Gives one pause.

: 13-Jun-08
Country: US
Author: Tim Gaynor

Public health workers in Maricopa County, which includes the cities of the Phoenix valley, are breeding thousands of so-called mosquitofish to gobble up larvae that thrive in the green pools of abandoned homes across the county.

West Nile virus, which came to the United States from Africa in the late 1990s, is now endemic in the county. Severe cases can produce high fever, stupor, tremors and paralysis, and can prove fatal.