Housing Opinion Survey Results: What’s next?

Faith Action’s HousingNOW! Task Force asked for your opinions about various housing issues. Your initial responses were immediately compared to the HousingNOW! position on each issue. If you did not initially agree, you were presented with additional information and given a chance to change your response. The task force will be writing a series of six essays to review and expand on the results.

The numerical summary of the 54 final responses to the survey are below:

 98% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state should be restricted to Hawaiʻi residents (clarification for those who commented: this is not a term used to imply USA citizenship, therefore, includes our Compact of Free Association [COFA] community)

 98% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state should be restricted to people who rent/own only the subsidized home they would live in

 90% of respondents agree $1,500 per month is an affordable payment for mortgage or rent for a two-bedroom housing unit

 82% of respondents agree housing subsidized by the state near transit should have limited parking to encourage mass transit use

 96% of respondents agree 50,000 homes filled into 1,000 acres of existing urban land is better than 10,000 acres of agricultural or conservation land

Our subsequent write-ups should help answer some questions that are outstanding or that may have come up because of this survey, such as:

 How does this affect the housing advocacy goals of Faith Action?

 What are the different kinds of government subsidies for housing?

 What does it even mean to be a “state resident”?

 What is the definition of “affordable”?

 What makes transportation and housing interrelated?

 How much new housing do we need to build?

 Where should new housing be built?

 What is the relationship between housing density and affordability?

The task force will expand on these questions and explain the direction we believe fits the values of the Faith Action membership based on your responses, and more importantly, the direction that best meets the needs of the low-income people we advocate for and are called to serve because of those values.

The task force will be asking the general membership to participate in testimony and advocate for actions based on the opinions provided by this survey. The series of essays you will see from the HousingNOW! Task Force will be important for equipping you with the breadth and depth of knowledge that you can use in your advocacy and testimony.