Eminent Domain Being Used to Save Homes

The New York Times has an interesting article on cities using eminent domain laws to take over houses to keep people from losing their homes.  In the program, cities buy the outstanding loans on houses for partial value (based on the current value of the house) and then lets the owners refinance based on the current value.  Basically, the owners of the loans are forced to take the loss.  The cities justify the action as saying that they are saving the homes from becoming blighted.  There are a lot of good policy arguments to be had over this article.