The Washington Post examines what it calls "the other housing crisis" — cities where "home prices are low because people have left" — and uses Akron and Cleveland as prime examples.

From the story:

While a housing crisis rages in high-priced coastal cities, where modest homes can sell for in excess of $1 million, and governments promote affordable-housing options, an entirely different problem is playing out closer to the country's interior. ...

There is no shortage of homes in Akron, Ohio, for example. But most of them are old, too many sit vacant, and hundreds of abandoned houses are torn down each year. Akron's population has dipped from nearly 300,000 residents in the early 1960s to fewer than 200,000 today.

But the paper notes that rather than "engaging in managed decline," Akron last year "approved a 100% exemption on the added property value of any new home construction or renovation valued at $5,000 or more for 15 years. This means that someone who built a new home on a vacant lot would pay taxes only on the value of the land, saving thousands per year in the process."

Mayor Dan Horrigan tells The Post, "People respond to incentives. We have a city of 200,000, with the capacity for 300,000."

Other big cities, including Cleveland, "also face home prices that are too low, leaving little financial incentive to build new homes or improve old ones, because money invested can't be recouped," according to the story. "The low prices also make it difficult to build wealth through equity, a key path to reaching the middle class." That's why those cities "have turned to residential tax-abatement programs designed to spur housing development — with or without population growth."

The paper says Akron is making some progress, noting, "In 2015, more than 500 Akron homes were torn down, and fewer than 10 were built. Today, there are more than 1,000 units of new housing in some stage of development, which leaders hope will attract higher-income buyers drawn to city life. Planned new projects include a 156-home development in the Kensington neighborhood, roughly a dozen houses on Dayton Street in the North Hill neighborhood and a 51-unit development called the Crossing at Auldfarm, with estimated prices from $180,000 to $280,000."

Similarly, the piece notes, University Heights and Cleveland Heights each got approval for their own citywide residential tax-abatement programs this fall. In the case of Cleveland Heights, abatements are available for new and remodeled residential buildings and for commercial projects. Tim Boland, the city's economic development director, called it a "game-changer" in a news release announcing the program's approval.

Meanwhile, The Brookings Institution calls attention to a different housing issue with a new study on the devaluation of assets in black neighborhoods.

Cleveland and Akron were among 113 metropolitan areas included in the report, which compared home values in majority black and white neighborhoods while controlling for housing quality and amenities.

Homes in Cleveland's predominantly black neighborhoods are appraised for about $19,150, around 20% less than comparable homes in white neighborhoods, Brookings found. In Akron, the devaluation percentage was even higher, at 22.3%.