I know there is a huge shortage of housing and that has driven up price in the past couple years (along with other factors such as the pandemic, population growth, etc) so, I see listings for 2br-1bth for up to 2200 on places like Zillow, Redfin, etc.  

I would never buy in places that has a population that is shirking.  

If you are going to build a shelter, maybe set aside some space for another charity to come in and put in a soup kitchen type of facility to feed your homeless population on the site.Just my 2 cents.

The city is rapidly growing in terms of population and job market with so many major companies choosing to move and develop here like Intel, Google, Amazon, etc.

If that's the case, check out some of the economic data about what cities have strong job and population growth.

What was the population of the metro on this one?

Take a look at this chart: FICO Score Pct of Population Default Probability 800 or more 13.00% 1.00% 750-799 27.00% 1.00% 700-749 18.00% 4.40% 650-699 15.00% 8.90% 600-649 12.00% 15.80% 550-599 8.00% 22.50% 500-549 5.00% 28.40% Less than 499 2.00% 41.00% This is how likely a borrower is likely to default on credit extended to them.

Given it's in a very low population area, it may just be an extremely slow, low demand rental.

Great macroeconomics with growing population and job market.

Also I am thinking now that these are small rural counties with population in the entire county probably no more than 50k or so.. at least with most of those folks living in the city of Oroville which is right on the border with British Columbia In my flying days I would go into Oroville to get through US customs compared to going into one of the airports Airports north of Seattle .