100 Year Mortgages

A very good friend of mine recently sent me a post from his blog were he commented on the rise of support for the idea of 100 year mortgages. On face value it seems a little preposterous, however it does offer the option of allowing people to refinance and stay in homes on which the may be facing foreclosure at much lower payments and at the same time offer a transparent way to expand home ownership. The article my friend sites says that while opponents decry the lack of equity building in such an arrangement, is it any worse than consigning people to rent where they have no chance of equity at all? At least if they had ownership even with a 100 year mortgage, they may have the chance for equity if the market improves in time as it has historically in the past. Perhaps it is an idea whose time has come.