On housing affordability: In Minnesota, bipartisan majorities favor going further than newly-enacted law

While Democrats and Republicans in Congress recently came together to pass legislation addressing the cost of housing, a new survey in Minnesota shows that majorities of both Democrats and Republicans favor policies that go substantially further.
 
The recently-enacted law provides more tax incentives to build or repair affordable housing, which a large bipartisan majority favors, but they also favor the government investing tens of billions of dollars to help build more housing affordable to low- and middle-income households.
 
A large bipartisan majority also favors the government providing an additional $24 billion in rental assistance for the very low-income, elderly and disabled. The new law does not include an increase in spending on rental assistance.
 
Under the new law, corporations are prohibited from owning more than 350 single-family homes, but a bipartisan majority favors a more restrictive policy of prohibiting large corporations from owning any single-family homes.
 
The policy questions included in the survey were derived from federal legislative proposals.
 
Steven Kull, Director of the University of Maryland’s Program for Public Consultation (PPC) noted, “While many of the proposals in the bipartisan legislation that just passed are consistent with the public’s goals for housing, large majorities of Democrats and Republicans in Minnesota favor the government going much further in both investment and regulation.”
 
Common Ground in the Battlegrounds? survey series
 
This release is the second in the Common Ground in the Battlegrounds? survey series being conducted by PPC in 11 competitive states and 28 competitive U.S. House districts in advance of the midterm elections.
 
Surveys on 15 topics will be released on a rolling basis, covering over 100 specific policy questions. The policies – most of which are pending legislative proposals in Congress –  have elicited bipartisan agreement nationally. PPC is exploring whether the same bipartisan common ground found at the national level exists in the battlegrounds. The results for all individual states and districts surveyed can be found here.
 
Providing tax credits to build affordable housing
 
A proposal for the federal government to provide, “tax incentives to home builders to build or repair homes affordable to low- and middle-income households” – consistent with the new law – was favored by a large bipartisan majority (Democrats 86%, Republicans 78%, overall 79%).
 
This proposal was favored by two-thirds of both Democrats and Republicans in all competitive states and districts surveyed, as well as nationally.
 
Investing billions to build affordable housing
 
Unlike the recent law, two legislative proposals call for substantial federal investments in affordable high-density housing (e.g. apartment buildings, duplexes and triplexes). Both received large bipartisan majority support.
 
For very low- and low-income households, investing $40 billion to increase high-density affordable housing supply is favored by 82% of Democrats and 67% of Republicans (overall 74%).
 
For low- and middle-income households, providing $25 billion to local governments to increase high-density affordable housing supply is favored by 84% of Democrats and 69% of Republicans (overall 75%).
 
Each proposal was favored by bipartisan majorities in all competitive states and nearly all House districts surveyed, as well as nationally.
 
Increasing assistance for the very low-income

A large majority of Democrats (84%) and Republicans (73%) favored, “spending up to $24 billion to provide more vouchers to help people pay rent who are very low income, disabled or elderly” (overall 79%). The new housing law does not increase funding for rental vouchers.
 
A large bipartisan majority was in favor in all competitive states and districts surveyed, as well as nationally.
 
Banning large corporate ownership of single-family homes
 
While the new housing law prohibits corporations from owning more than 350 single-family homes, a large majority of Democrats (87%) and Republicans (77%) favored prohibiting large corporations from owning any (overall 80%).
 
A large bipartisan majority was in favor in all competitive states and districts surveyed, as well as nationally.
 
 
MORE INFORMATION

• Minnesota + National Questionnaire with Toplines, Crosstabs and Methodology
• All Battleground State and District Results

 
Program for Public Consultation
The Program for Public Consultation (PPC), affiliated with the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, develops and conducts public consultation surveys, in which respondents are informed about and deliberate on policy solutions being proposed by elected officials, and give their recommendations. It  seeks to improve democratic governance by consulting representative samples of citizens on key public policy proposals, and sharing its findings with officials in government, the media, other academics, and the general public.
 
Civic Innovation Center
The Civic Innovation Center (CivIC) at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy works to strengthen the foundations of civic health. It contributes to important debates about civic education, civic engagement, and needed democratic reforms in the state of Maryland and nationwide, in partnership with other BIG 10 universities. It works to build the connective tissue that brings together students, scholars and practitioners to help elevate the UMD community’s contribution to our wider democracy.
 
Voice of the People
Voice Of the People (VOP) is a nonpartisan organization working to re-anchor our democracy in its founding principles by giving ‘We the People’ a greater and more effective voice in government. It champions innovative methods and technology that enable the American people to play a role in the policymaking process and provide policymakers with a more accurate understanding of the views of their constituents.