Ultimately, a policy of neglect will be just as – or even more – costly than finding and implementing constructive solutions to the vacancy issue. We must ask ourselves, can we create policies that fairly distribute those costs? What are the limitations? What innovations can create more effective, scalable solutions?
With funding scarce, how can we identify solutions that will ultimately be most cost effective? To begin to answer some of these questions, I return to the typology of vacant properties introduced earlier. “Housing Boom” locations The first type, “housing boom” areas, has relatively high median incomes and new housing stock.