Vacant homes, neighborhoods plague the Rust Belt

"An analysis by The Associated Press, based on data collected by the U.S. Postal Service and the Housing and Urban Development Department, shows the emptiest neighborhoods are clustered in places hit hard during the recession of the 1980s — cities such as Flint, Mich.; Columbus, Ohio; Buffalo, N.Y.; and Indianapolis." Dan Sewell and Frank Bass report that while foreclosure stories have focused on "mostly middle-class, suburban Sunbelt neighborhoods from California to Florida," urban neighborhoods in the Rust Belt have been hardest hit.  Nearly $6 billion in federal fund have been designated to rehabilitate or demolish abandoned and foreclosed homes in some of the nation's most troubled urban neighborhoods.