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In Columbus, loss of existing housing stock has not been a major problem, but some neighborhoods have suffered from it. There are numerous vacant sites in all of the city's neighborhoods due to private owner decisions, city code enforcement, fires or other causes. This empty land, often unkempt and weed-grown, has strong negative visual and emotional impacts. It discourages investment in existing nearby homes and is a drag on the city's tax base.

There should be a coordinated drive, with public and private participation, to acquire building sites, clear up clouded titles, undertake necessary clean-ups and build new infill housing. Care must be taken that new construction is well designed to fit each neighborhood's existing design context. Many kinds of rental and ownership housing should be provided, based on the needs of each neighborhood.

As former Indianapolis mayor William Hudnut has observed, such an effort is an efficient use of resources. "Infill housing, be it attached, detached, high-density or low-density, can revitalize neighborhoods because it introduces affordable, contextually designed housing into inner-city neighborhoods where there is underused or abandoned physical infrastructure."

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