About lenders and all of those empty houses

"What is clear is that blocks in some neighborhoods — neighborhoods like Austin, West Englewood, Roseland, Marquette Park — are dying under the weight, what with four or five board-ups per block, many gutted by metal thieves and vandalized by squatters. By my lights it's the biggest physical disaster to hit Chicago since the Great Fire, even if its scatter pattern masks the enormity. Only this time, unlike 1871, there's no rush to rebuild"