Municipal, provincial, and federal governments own an immense number of surplus properties that are sitting idle—often in the form of vacant buildings and empty parcels. There are unused schools, empty office blocks, and brownfield sites sitting fallow. This bounty of potential typically suffers two tragic fates: Remaining empty for years on end while housing conditions in c\a\n\a\d\a continue to deteriorate, or being sold off to private developers who go on to transform these properties into new forms of alienation.