No, it’s a game of hot potato, subsidy gaming, and tax arbitrage played by out-of-state landlords. Many of these homes are vacant, unwanted. For reasons I do no

No, it’s a game of hot potato, subsidy gaming, and tax arbitrage played by out-of-state landlords. Many of these homes are vacant, unwanted. For reasons I do not understand, many people will prefer to rent than own, even if renting costs more out-of-pocket. Not a function of affordability, but an apparent lack of understanding across the community. What you are describing is not what’s happening in Memphis. The homes are available, almost freely available, maybe require some sweat equity, but nobody wants to bother. Again, I’m talking about thousands or tens of thousands of homes. The jobs are there too, we have a lot of trouble hiring in town. I don’t mean to invalidate the decisionmaking process of low income people in this context, but it doesn’t make sense to me, it’s not for lack of available housing, and it’s a problem I’ve personally spent a lot of time trying to solve over the last 15 years.