Later this month, members of City Council will likely start working on a new housing policy for the city, which will guide residential development in Rochester.

The current policy has been in effect for 19 years, and the city has undergone dramatic changes in that period. When the policy was written, says City Councilmember Carolee Conklin, the city's housing abandonment problem wasn't as severe as it has been in the past decade. "Green" construction wasn't a hot topic. And few people were talking about the potential for housing downtown.

Work on a new housing policy comes at a critical time. The city's continuing population loss has fueled vacancies and has depressed real-estate values. To deal with housing abandonment, the city has demolished hundreds of buildings. "We're amassing large parcels of land," says Conklin, and that opens up the opportunity for a variety of new uses: green space as well as development.

The growing interest in downtown housing also gives the city new opportunities. But it forces new decisions on city officials. Given the city's limited resources, should they target a few areas for new housing development - in areas like downtown that currently show the most potential, for example - or should they spread their efforts throughout the city? No neighborhood leaders will be happy if their area is neglected.

While Rochester is still losing more population than it's gaining, the consultants who have studied the city's housing trends estimate that there'll be a demand for hundreds of new housing units each year - maybe more than 1700. Where should that housing go?

Should the city encourage owner-occupied housing, which now accounts for a smaller percentage of Rochester housing than it once did? Or should it focus its efforts on rental housing?

Should the city focus on attracting high-income residents? Families? How can it insure adequate, quality housing for its large population of poor people?

The city's consultants released their recommendations in July, and City Council is assessing them as it puts together a new policy.

Conklin says she hopes Council will hold a work session on the policy on September 27. When Council completes its work, it will send a draft policy to the Duffy administration. Conklin says she hopes a new policy will be adopted by the end of the year.

Not all of the consultants' recommendations are likely to make it into the housing policy. They range from what Conklin calls "a lovely theory" to goals she says are "doable." Among the former: that city officials should "position Rochester to lead the way in smart solutions to upstate problems." Rochester, the consultants note, has lost population to its suburbs. And that loss has been compounded by the region's stagnant population and economic growth.

The consultants want city officials to lobby the state on smart-growth issues, "strengthen regional cooperation and planning," and "promote Rochester as the vibrant urban center of the region."

"A lot is beyond our control," says Conklin. (More is under the city's influence, if not control, than it was under a Republican governor, however. And during his campaign, Governor Spitzer did pledge to focus on the health of cities. City Hall might "lead the way," as the consultants put it, in insisting that the governor fulfill that pledge.)

Among the "doable," Conklin says: capitalizing on the growing interest in downtown housing.

And, says Conklin, it's significant that the current housing developments are taking place in downtown's older buildings.

"One of my major concerns is the existing housing stock we have," says Conklin. Once the city completes its program of demolishing abandoned houses in inner-city neighborhoods, she says, "we need to start focusing on preservation."