Master Plan - City of Troy

There is no single housing solution for Troythat will fit the knowledge economy workforce.Like the companies themselves, workers areno longer necessarily tied to commutes orproximity to specific resources. Both companiesand workers can locate wherever they wish,regardless of profession, given new access tothe global workplace via the internet. As statedearlier in this Plan, therefore, the City of Troymust concentrate its efforts on the quality of lifein the City to ensure that, provided choice, newresidents choose Troy over anywhere else.Over 125,000 people work in Troy every day,but only about 8,000 of those people reside inthe City. The City must identify ways to capturemore new residents from this critical group.Two factors contributing to this phenomenoncould be the cost barrier, which will bediscussed in the next subsection, and theavailability of innovative housing styles. Basedon the 2000 U.S. Census, 75 percent of housingunits in the City of Troy are owner-occupiedunits, 22 percent are renter occupied units andthe rest are vacant. The predominant housingtype in the City of Troy (73 percent) is a singlefamilydetached home. Twenty-percent of unitsare multi-unit apartments with the remaining7 percent being one-family attached homes orduplexes and townhomes.Live-Work UnitsAs jobs and companies evolve for the 21stcentury, new housing types centered on livingand working in the same place are gainingpopularity. The City should explore newpossibilities to accommodate and encouragelive-work units for all types of professions. Someunits, designed for full-time, low impact and lowtraffic uses may coexist with existing residentialareas, and some uses that may have limitedexternal impacts, such as increased traffic, noise,etc., may fit in more mixed-use and transitionalareas.FIGURE 8.7: LIBERTY LOFTS, ANN ARBORSource: www.libertyloftsannarbor.com82 CHAPTER 8: POPULATION