"How our government helps investors profit from neighborhood decay."

Wow.

Investigative journalism really does exist.

Blight Inc. -- How our government helps investors profit from neighborhood decay, by Brian Eason (Indy Star)

 ... The story of urban blight is all too familiar. Indianapolis is pockmarked with 6,800 abandoned homes that stunt property values, attract crime and destabilize neighborhoods. But one of the primary causes is mostly hidden. And it is, in large part, enabled by our own government.

An Indianapolis Star investigation has found that, increasingly, the empty house next door is not owned by a bank or an individual, but by one of many investors, often from out of state, who are enticed by the prospects of cheap homes that can be purchased — sight unseen and in bulk — at government tax sales.