Voters want to see action on housing in Washington, DC, even if they don’t know all the details, a new poll has found.
Up to 88% of respondents believe it’s harder than it ever has been to buy a house, according to a poll released by the Bipartisan Policy Center. Working with Advocus Partners, BPC polled 1,000 voters in late April and found broad support for congressional action on housing reform.
About 83% of those polled said Congress needs to take action to make housing more affordable. And 79% said paying for housing is one of the biggest expenses in their budget, while 57% said it’s made other financial obligations more difficult.
The poll comes as Congress appears on the cusp of passing the Housing for the 21st Century Act, one of the most comprehensive housing reforms in decades. But that bill stalled in recent weeks as competing priorities out of the White House have muddled its path through Capitol Hill.
“People across the country are feeling the pressure, and they want Congress to respond,” said Dennis Shea, chair of BPC’s J. Ronald Terwilliger Center for Housing Policy.
Sentiment against investors might not be so strong
Voters don’t appear to be quite as united on institutional investors as Washington believes, according to the poll data. The Senate and House versions of the bill have a key difference: language banning institutional investors from owning more than 350 single-family homes.
About 70% of respondents support the premise of the bill, with 12% opposing and 19% unsure. That support was almost equal among Democrats and Republicans, but trended heavier among people under the age of 44.
When BPC asked those polled if they’d still support the bill if it reduced the supply of homes available for rent, supporters fractured. About 37% said they’d be more supportive of the bill, 31% said they’d be less supportive, and 32% were unsure.
President Donald Trump has been an open critic of institutional investors in the housing market. He released an executive order in January with guardrails to curtail their activity in the market. He also called on Congress to codify the ban in his State of the Union speech in February.
Last month, 76 members of the House’s Build America and Real Estate caucuses called for that provision to be changed or deleted.
Voters broadly align with the goals of the investor ban, though they may lack the details about specifics, said B.J. Martino, CEO of The Tarrance Group, which was involved in the study.
Broad voter impatience with gridlock
Voters polled were generally supportive of solutions of all kinds and almost universally want Congress to start acting on them.
About 76% support streamlining federal regulations to reduce costs and delays, while 84% support expanding access to affordable home financing. At least 77% support reforming federal rental assistance and other housing programs, and 65% support incentivizing state and local governments to change zoning and land use policies.
The devil can be in the details there. Both Republicans and Democrats have different ideas about which regulations to cut and which kinds of assistance to offer. For instance, Republicans have targeted green energy mandates. Democrats want to see more federal housing assistance.
Knowing there is a bipartisan housing bill in Congress, 76% of those polled support the two chambers coming to an agreement and passing the bill. But regardless of any specific bill, 89% said Congress needs to make building more affordable housing easier and lower housing costs.
About 63% were more likely to vote for their member of Congress if that person helped pass the bill into law. Only 4% were less likely.
“In this partisan environment we deal with on a daily basis, it’s uncommon to see an issue where Democrats, Republicans, and independents align in such numbers,” Martino said.
