Poll: Housing Affordability a Growing Concern

Housing affordability issues are concerning an increasing number of voters, according to a National Low Income Housing Coalition poll.Over 52% of the respondents say they or someone they know have had trouble meeting monthly housing expenses such as rent, mortgage payments, or household utilities in 2002, the coalition reported. Affordability problems extend across income lines. Of the respondents who did not face housing affordability problems, 76% said they were concerned about the lack of affordable housing some Americans face, with over one-third of all respondents being "very concerned." About 82% of the respondents consider the provision of adequate federal funding for low-income housing to be important, while 57% agreed that it is more important for Congress to fund affordable housing than to cut taxes, the coalition said. The telephone poll of 800 likely voters was conducted May 27-29 by the bipartisan polling firms of Laszlo and Associates Inc. and Public Opinion Strategies Inc.