The boarded-up house has become a stark symbol of the economic crisis in Atlanta.
In some neighborhoods, house after house is safe with plywood planks, evoking the ominous atmosphere of a beach town hours before a hurricane.

But there’s a latest kid on the block when it comes to protecting empty and foreclosed property - stainless steel.

A growing number of property owners are throwing metal coverings over windows and doors to avoid thieves, vandals and vagrants from breaking in. The homes become steel fortresses, with virtually impenetrable metal sheaths blocking every possible entry point.

It’s a moderately new option for Atlanta property owners. The nation’s important purveyor of metal door and window covers, Chicago-based Vacant Property Security, entered the Atlanta market in late 2007.