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Americans Say “Not in My Backyard” to Social Housing Initiatives [1]

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Date: 2022-12-20

Affordable housing is a major issue for Americans, especially for younger Americans, urban residents, and people with lower incomes. At the beginning of the year, Pew Research found that 49% of Americans saw affordable housing as a major problem, with 36% considering it a minor problem. Since then, a quarter of US parents have struggled to pay for their housing, as inflationary pressures, and a declining economy, have set in. Not only are Americans struggling to find affordable housing, half a million people are homeless in the United States. Yet, as FiveThirtyEight show , despite rising unease about affordable housing and homelessness, Americans are uncomfortable about the idea of having affordable housing near where they live. Polling suggests that affordable housing is seen as a crime issue, and not a poverty issue, leading to Americans fearing that nearby affordable housing will increase local crime rates. However, there is no evidence to back up that association between affordable housing and crime.

Source: Pew Research

According to Bipartisan Policy , 54% of adults say that their housing expenses (rent, mortgage, or utility payments) increased between September 2021 and September 2022. This was especially prevalent in cities, with 60% of urban adults reporting higher housing expenses. In that time, 45% of renters report having to pay more in monthly rent. Lower-income adults have been especially hard hit by the increase in monthly rent, with 50% saying they have struggled to pay their monthly rent, and 49% say they struggled to pay their utilities. As inflation has taken hold, 68% of urban adults say inflation has hurt their ability to pay for housing expenses; compared to 60% of suburban adults; and 58% of rural adults.

The combination of a crisis of affordable housing and in homelessness, has led to 71% of Americans saying that they support bipartisan efforts to pass legislation to increase the supply of homes and improve housing affordability.

Source: Bipartisan Policy

The need for more affordable housing is clear. While demand for housing has increased as the population has grown, supply has not kept pace, pushing up housing prices. Yet, in practice, Americans have opposed the building of homeless shelters and affordable housing developments in their neighborhoods. There have been conflicts between people who are derisively referred to as NIMBYs (“not in my back yard”) and YIMBYs (“yes in my backyard”). When YouGov conducted a survey to see if there was any difference between support for housing initiatives at a national level versus a local level, they found that 85% of those surveyed supported homeless shelters nationally, but when asked if they supported homeless shelters locally, support dropped to 65%. When asked if they supported low-income housing nationally, 82% said they did, but support dropped to 65% when they were asked if they supported such initiatives locally.

Source: YouGov

According to FiveThirtyEight, the difference in attitudes stems from the association between social housing and crime. While people believe that social housing is a social good, they fear that it will bring crime with it, and so, many Americans end up being NIMBYs. Yes to social housing solutions, but just not in my backyard. This is despite the fact that there is no evidence that homeless shelters or low-income housing result in higher crime rates. Underlying this view is the notion that people who need homeless shelters or low-income housing, are more likely to commit crimes. For these Americans, social housing projects are crime issues; and not poverty issues.

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/12/20/2142992/-American-Housing-Initiatives

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