This Slate piece was written by a Flint native returning to his hometown in search of affordable housing, driven out of San Fransisco by obscenly high housing costs.
It’s an interesting and well-written story.
Thanks to Rust Wire reader Claudia Raleigh for bringing it to my attention.
-KG
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Since meeting with approval from the Ohio General Assembly in December, the new Cuyahoga County Landbank has spurred some creative rethinking for landuse in Cleveland.

Among the proposals:
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It’s kinda nice to read a story about the housing crisis that isn’t set in my backyard (Cleveland) for once.
This time, my hometown of Columbus is front and center in the sad story of houses without owners. A neighborhood in west Columbus was found to have the highest vacancy rate in the country, according to an Associated Press analysis, based on Housing and Urban Development and Postal Service data.
This is kinda unusual because Columbus is generally regarded to be the golden child of Ohio in these parts.
I know the Columbus …

Rust Wire was able to sit down last week with the very busy Rhoda Matthews, executive director of Flint Club, a Flint, Michigan-based group working to improve the city and reaching out to the large group of Flint natives who no longer call the Vehicle City home.
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Today’s New York Times has a story about a proposal to close off parts of the city of Flint, Mich. in order to focus on saving what can still be saved. “The population would be condensed into a few viable areas,” the article explains. “So would stores and services. A city built to manufacture cars would be returned in large measure to the forest primeval.”
I’m really surprised this article didn’t mention Youngstown’s planned shrinkage.
-KG
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