With some homes staying vacant for months or even years, the government, they say, needs to act as an intermediary.
Putting up homes that are going to end up staying vacant for years on end is not, obviously, a smart or efficient way to use capital, and one consequence of the bursting of the housing bubble is — and should be — that we're going to simply invest less money in homes.
Wal-Mart said it hoped the CheckUps clinics would not stay vacant for long.
Mr. Simmons said that Mr. Mitchell was "contributing to the negative look of the neighborhood by letting that building stay vacant".
"My main concern," he said, "is that as the place stays vacant, people are trying to get inside".
But the Republicans don't agree to any of Obama's choices, and so the seats stay vacant, sometimes for years.
Of course, that won't last; a location that rivals the Arc de Triomphe's for drama is not about to stay vacant.
"Three years ago, we didn't have an apartment to offer anyone, and now we find they stay vacant a little longer than usual," she said.
And, finally, when potential tenants of vacant storefronts see activity and a street that the community takes pride in, there is a greater chance that vacancies won't stay vacant very long.
"As properties stay vacant for longer periods of time," says Joe Schilling, a founder of the National Vacant Properties Campaign, "it's inevitable that even in some of the fast-growing communities, they'll have to look at demolition".
For his part, Mayor John Jack F. Zisa said that when the county first proposed a new office building, he was concerned about the effect on the city if Court Plaza stayed vacant too long.
