in the case of rochester ny, you don't even have to be compensated for your property. they just tell you that it is a nuisance (one too many crack deals went down on the sidewalk in front of your rental property) and bam! the property is now the government's. just pay $1,000 of fines to the city as a "get out of jail free card" (to pump up the tax coffers; they have to get their $ somewhere, since everyone who owns property here is just praying for it to burn; can't sell it; property values too low), and leave town, never showing your face again.
oh, and the catch 22 is, if you happen to rent to a decent tenant and their violent boyfriend moves in, the judges won't give you an eviction, even though there's gunplay, drugs,etc. that way, they can blame the property owner for "allowing" all of this mayhem, thus speeding up the "nuisance" a.k.a eminent domain process. so, damned if you do and damned if you don't. most of us just foreclose and walk away. then the gov't can take the property back which is what they wanted in the first place.
what do they do with the property? make it into federally subsidized housing (codeword: "affordable" housing) where the tenant pays anywhere from $0-$150 a month in rent. what private landlord can compete with that?
or they swing the wrecking ball, put up a brand new habitat for humanity house with vinyl siding, get HUGE subsidies-often up to ten times the actual value of the house because of the horrible neighborhood it's in-to give the tenant that never paid their rent in the first place the responsibility of homeownership. problem is, who's the "new homeowner" gonna call when the pilot goes out in her new home? no more landlord to change that awkwardly placed lightbulb (no, i am not kidding; tenants in rochester ny are accustomed to hand maiden service courtesy of the local legal aid and legal assistance programs as well as a variety of state and local and regional govt agencies;housing authority, etc)
then the city goes around patting themselves on the back because they "increased homeownership." meanwhile, the "new homeowner" forecloses on her zero percent interest mortgage, trashes the place and it goes up on the auction block in 3-10 years for $12 K. and all of this tremendous financial and moral loss is at the courtesy of the taxpayer. what's not to like for the feds? no wonder they want to adopt this kind of law universally!