Vacant Properties Weren't Just a Foreclosure Crisis Problem

"Despite a shortage of affordable housing in many parts of the country, there are more than 6 million vacant, unused housing units, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey," writes Amy Scott.

"That’s more than at the height of the foreclosure crisis, and it doesn’t count empty lots or commercial buildings."

Scott's article starts as a dispatch from the recent Reclaiming Vacant Properties conference, held recently in Atlanta, which can be held up as an example of the under-the-radar challenge of property vacancies in many parts of the country. The surprising persistence of property vacancies in a growing Atlanta especially exemplifies how effective responses to property vacancies will require actions specific to local economic context.