Yes, people have been warning about this for awhile, real homebuyers are now typically being outbid by investment companies and turning a lot of nice houses in neighborhoods into rentals, I saw it happen quite often in the old Greenfield neighborhood.Yes, I heard this in financial pages. It is the point system for any federally backed mortgages. They changed the name but it is what used to be called PMI fees, that you actually pay extra percentage on the mortgage for insurance based on your own risk category, based on your performance. They are having low risk customers who deserve lower rates subsidize the high risk so they can get homes they cannot earn legitimately.
See also: Communism
I think there is a bigger plan. These high risk mortgages are destined to fail, leaving the Federal agencies in charge of huge blocks of once privately held real estate. I think the big picture is two fold 1) it gives government agencies a huge slush fund to make money with selected "investors" 2) It allows the government to exercise the "scattered site" public housing program to spread the cost of social services to a wider populace and to buy votes from those who get to live in better areas on welfare and expand anti American causes.
See also: Dearborn Michigan, & Minneapolis, Minnesota