CNN Money reports that in and around Cleveland, nearly 6,000 foreclosed and abandoned homes are being destroyed.
“For the larger body – the neighborhood – to survive, you have to remove those cancer cells,” said Frank Ford, policy adviser for the nonprofit Thriving Communities Institute of Cleveland. The destruction of these homes is part of an effort to save neighborhoods from blight, crime, and sinking home prices. In their place, the city has been turning the empty lots into parks, greenhouses, and even vineyards.