ALBANY · SCHENECTADY · TROY · RENSSELAER
Our blocks.
Our homes.
Our next chapter.
What if the spaces between our homes became opportunities for more people to own one?
Start with the land ↗State Street, Albany · May 2022 · Andre Carrotflower / CC BY-SA 4.0. Historical context, not our project.
IDEAS FOR DISCUSSION / OCTOBER 18 REVIEW
Three questions to start with.
Resident homeownership, neighborhood care and potential City and school tax-base benefits remain the aims. I am sharing an Albany resident's ideas and inviting constructive feedback. This packet requests no land allocation or contract. Any later business proposal would state my role and interests separately.
Where could these ideas help?
Which existing rehabilitation, homeownership or infill efforts could these suggestions complement? I want to learn from current work and from residents, rather than propose a parallel system.
Which land-access idea deserves a closer look?
Compare published vacant-lot sales, qualified bids and a proposed drawing for the opportunity to buy a lot. What is limiting available properties or buyer participation today? A drawing may be useful where qualified demand exceeds supply.
Who else should help examine the ideas?
Invite residents and renters, city staff, land banks, builders, educators, lenders, appraisers and insurers. Please identify the strongest idea, a practical objection and the next useful question. Reply to infill@simionmgmt.com.
A NEIGHBORHOOD IS MORE THAN ITS BUILDINGS.
Keep the character.
Open the possibilities.
Save houses worth saving. Put suitable vacant lots to work. Give more residents a lasting stake in the place they call home.
This proposal connects rehabilitation, compatible infill, resident ownership and neighborhood care. It builds on work already happening across the Capital District—with ideas to discuss, challenge and improve.
ORIGINAL CONCEPT · NOT AN ACTUAL PROJECTTHE LAND QUESTION
An empty lot.
A fair chance.
A place to stay.
Publish the opportunities. Explain what each site could support. Consider vacant-lot sales, redevelopment bids and a proposed drawing for the opportunity to buy land only. The drawing concerns land only. A supported construction and financing path should be explored before committing to a lot purchase.
Explore the lot-sales and lottery ideas ↗More homeowners.
Stronger blocks.
A productive tax base.
Resident ownership is the central idea: households making a home, maintaining a property and taking part in neighborhood life. This is not a proposal to hand discounted land to investors for quick resale.
Rehabilitation and suitable new construction could strengthen taxable residential value for the city and school district. Actual effects depend on assessments, exemptions and levy decisions. There is no promised dollar return.
SEE THE THINKING
A gap in the block.
A construction idea in motion.
A small home takes shape between neighboring houses. Watch a residential upper-floor module lower toward its matching first floor—one illustrative way to fill a neighborhood gap.
Open the visual studies ↗
TROY · HISTORICAL STREETSCAPERECOGNIZE THE WORK. ADD TO THE CONVERSATION.
We are not
starting from zero.
Albany rehabilitation and narrow-lot construction. Schenectady homeownership projects. Troy’s Lansing Fields. Existing efforts deserve recognition, careful comparison and honest credit.
See the regional research ↗Troy photo: Daniel Case; correction by MattWade, June 2008 / CC BY-SA 3.0. Not a current construction photo.
EXPANDED IDEAS / YOUR FEEDBACK
Build homes. Build skills. Hear local voices.
Explore adaptable homes, qualified local trades, youth skills and site preparation alongside lasting resident ownership.
Read the expanded community ideas and share feedback ↗EXPLORE THE NUMBERS
A clearer homebuying picture.
Change a home price, location and household budget. Explore local assistance, voucher assumptions and the monthly share you would need to cover.
Program leads and conditional examples are not approvals. Your inputs stay in your browser unless you choose to save or share a file.
Open the Homebuying Explorer ↗