Background
One tool that more and
more communities around the country are using to better understand their
context, and help develop more effective housing and community development
policy and investment strategy is a community-wide housing market study. The
practice was pioneered by Reinvestment Fund,
a mission-based community development financial institution (CDFI) based in
Philadelphia, and has been recognized as a best practice by the Federal Reserve and
applied in dozens of communities across the country.
The City of Rochester
commissioned a Citywide Housing Market Study as a technical study to help
inform development of the City's new Comprehensive Plan, Rochester 2034 , and
retained czb, LLC - a firm with national expertise
based in Alexandria, VA - to perform the analysis.
Documents
Click to
download the full 2018 Citywide Housing Market Study
Click to access Rochester 2034 - the City of
Rochester's Comprehensive Plan
Data
To explore and better
understand housing market conditions and patterns across Rochester, this study
drew upon a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data sources.
- Quantitative data sources included American Community
Survey (ACS) data from the U.S. Census Bureau as well as extensive local
data - most of which was provided at he parcel or address level - on
things such as real estate sales, assessment records, property conditions,
code enforcement, building permits, lis pendens (bank foreclosure) and tax
foreclosure filings, and the location of various housing interventions
across the city (e.g., homebuyer grants, affordable housing
construction/preservation efforts, etc.)
- Qualitative data included information gathered through
a series of focus groups and interview with more than 50 local experts in
housing, community development, real estate, lending, and property
management who work across a wide range of sub-markets, populations, and
geographies served. An internal City Steering Committee, with staff from
Planning, Housing, Project Development, Business Development, Real Estate,
Assessment, Law, Code Enforcement, Rehab and Repair, Zoning, Environmental
Quality, and Innovation also helped to guide and inform the study.
Contact
For more information,
contact Elizabeth Murphy in the City Planning Office at
elizabeth.murphy@cityofrochester.gov, or (585) 428-6813.