Is there not? Looking at rents in Locust Point and Harbor East, it certainly seems like there’s one to me, even if it’s not as egregious as in other cities. After all it’s not like those particular places have vacant housing - it’s the blighted blocks people are moving out of that bring down the citywide average.

And even if there wasn’t a housing shortage per se, it would be good to build more housing anyways to bring prices even lower. And that can happen while the city gets rid of vacant housing at the same time.