One in 10 Homes Was Vacant in...

One in 10 Homes Was Vacant in 1990: America’s busted oil towns, wave-swept beaches, big industrial cities and Sun Belt success stories have in common thousands of empty homes. When the census was taken last year, one dwelling in 10 stood empty. Altogether, the Census Bureau found 10.3 million vacant houses, townhouses, apartments and condominiums. That’s 2 million more than in 1980. The empty homes, which blight whole neighborhoods, are a result of people walking away from property they can no longer sell or rent. Nearly 17% of the homes in New Orleans were empty in 1990. In Houston, the vacancy rate was about 15%. By contrast, only 6% of New York City’s dwellings were vacant, 10% in Chicago and 9% in Detroit.