The Next Slum?

In the Franklin Reserve neighborhood of Elk Grove, California, south of Sacramento, the houses are nicer than those at Windy Ridge—many once sold for well over $500,000—but the phenomenon is the same. At the height of the boom, 10,000 new homes were built there in just four years. Now many are empty; renters of dubious character occupy others. Graffiti, broken windows, and other markers of decay have multiplied. Susan McDonald, president of the local residents’ association and an executive at a local bank, told the Associated Press, “There’s been gang activity. Things have really been changing, the last few years.”

Anybody else remember Danny Faulkner and his helipad out at Hubbard? Same thing. It’ll happen again, after years of bloviating from vote-buying pols, and lots of crocodile tears, then some bright spark will do it again a different way.

How many of those mortgages do you think Susan high-signed?