Hmm, a city in desperate need of housing has an oversupply of office space. I know it's not a simple conversion, but it feels like a natural fit.
With the loan under water or the fear of it going that way it is probably hard to fund additional debt for a multi-year construction effort when no one is sure which way the market will go. Also may mean that they miss out on a govt bailout that could make them whole.
Just a theory on why we haven’t seen much of this.
While the latter may sound ridiculous, one thing I've heard over and over(and over) again from younger people in the area was complaining about paying so much for rent when they're never home, and just needing a place to sleep. I'm not up with zoning or even the feasibility of such a thing, more of a thought experiment.
I presently live in a townhouse triplex with like 5 huge windows to the outside world and everyone in my household has them permanently blackout-curtained like nobody's business.. and there is still way too much light getting in each one of them. :(
Perhaps there are vampire-like demographics which could be served by some of the interior-space of such buildings?
Plus, depending how folks feel about it it might be interesting to user fiberoptic cable to transport natural light about wherever one desires, not least of which because that ought to prove quite simple to be able to switch on and off at will.