Another angle on the empty-house issue. From The Guardian: Property investors in Islington who leave homes empty could face jail:
Property investors who leave homes empty just to make money from property price rises could be fined or even jailed under proposals made by a London council.
Islington plans to force owners of newly built homes to prove they are occupied. If homes are left empty for longer than three months owners will face high court injunctions which if breached, could bring fines, repossession and, in the worst cases, jail for owners, the council said.
The drastic action has been proposed as the north London borough revealed that 30% of a representative sample of 2,000 homes built in the last six years have nobody on the electoral register and, even when students and foreign tenants are discounted, close to a quarter of homes in five of the newest residential developments appear to be empty.
More here.
A new career opportunity in the making in London and maybe SF: roving house sitters for hire.
There may be as many wrinkles to the housing issue as there are cities, but they all revolve around a central problem.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/technology/stockholms-housing-shortage-threatens-to-stifle-start-ups.html.