His article provides no viable options. He laments that an abandoned home is not a vacant lot - that hasn't been developed yet. The contrast is driving around Detroit circle 2010 when the city was full of burned out/homes/structures.

No one would ever move/invest next to one of those. The only hope is tearing down the old and either hoping the remaining homes regain stability or waiting another 5-10 years for those too to go through the auction block and get demolished. Then with huge swaths of vacant land - nothing is scary or a bad investment. A developer can buy entire blocks from the Land Bank and build new Palmer Woods, Sherwood Forest or the 2020 equivalent housing option.

That investment won't happen until the entire blocks are leveled - no one want to build a new house next to three vacant fields and 2 ghetto homes. You have to ensure your investment will yield dividends.