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The societal effects of largescale repossessions on defaulted mortgates also need to be considered.
I recall during the recession in the UK in the 1990s, the housing market ran into serious trouble and so did the employment situation. Large numbers of people defaulted on mortgages and had their homes repossessed and put back onto the market at the slumped price that had become the norm, or were under so much strain to pay what they could not afford that they put the keys through the door and walked away. The result of that was a sharp increase in the number of people (often families) who became technically homeless. A whole culture of 'bed and breakfast' families began.
Now, on the one hand those people could possibly be seen as less culpable than the sub-prime borrowers as theirs was the result of a market slump rather than poor finance decisions. On the other hand, the societal effects of sharp, sudden rises in homeless and temporarily housed familes (often involving the temporary or permanent break up of those families) is not lessened by the culpability of the borrowers.
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