As a result of economic growth and plentiful employment in southwestern Connecticut, driven by corporate relocations from the New York City and Fairfield County metropolitan areas to nearby towns, Ansonia's housing market improved in the early 2000s. On the preferred East Side of the city, the average home price climbed almost 20% in the period from 2001 to 2006. Authorities are closing down federal housing projects on the West Side of town, in favor of a mixture of market-rate housing. There have been many changes in policy related to public housing. Due to a concentration of poverty in this area, it suffered a large percentage of the crime.