by Calculated Risk on 2/13/2008 11:09:00 AM

From David Lazarus at the LA Times: Shadow victims of the mortgage crisis: renters

Salgado, 40, is one of many renters who have found themselves homeless after their cash-strapped landlords stopped making mortgage payments and their houses or apartment buildings were foreclosed upon.

The California Apartment Assn., the state's largest organization of rental property owners, estimates that as much as a quarter of all foreclosed single-family residences are occupied by renters. The number of renters ensnared in the foreclosure fiasco is even larger when duplexes and other multi-unit buildings are factored in.
...
State officials said that under California law, existing rental agreements are essentially wiped out when a property is foreclosed upon. All that's required is that a tenant be given at least 30 days' notice that he or she is being evicted.

Lenders are not in the business of being landlords, and they typically want a house vacant so they can sell it as quickly as possible.

The article also touches on the impact on rents:

... this can mean even steeper rents because the wave of foreclosures has spurred greater demand for rental housing

In the short term, the housing bust has probably helped push rents up in many areas.