Building new homes for rent, not sale

[ATLANTA] Homeownership was out of reach for Tishri Hyman, a single mother of two with a good job but less than stellar credit. But three years ago, she found the next best thing: a brand-new house, complete with a fireplace, that she could rent.

"It was just absolutely magnificent to be able to live in a new home," she said. "It gave me a sense of independence. It provided something for me that was probably missing."

Ms Hyman and her daughters moved into what had been a model home in one of the many boom-time subdivisions around Atlanta that were originally intended for first-time buyers. But now thousands of similar single-family homes are being built expressly for tenants, rather than owners.