The U.S. office market is in its toughest stretch in decades. Despite aggressive return-to-work pushes, swaths of unused space are becoming zombie buildings—dragging down the value of once-thriving city centers and bleeding millions in lost tax revenue.

Now, local governments are scrambling to breathe life (and dollars) back into these dead assets. At the same time, the nation’s affordable housing crisis is only getting worse.

So how do you kill two birds with one stone? Turn vacant office buildings into housing.

But is this. . .