This also applies to Seattle and Portland

This is supposed to be a secret! Appreciate that the comments are helping out.

Such a pleasure working with Jane! More to come on the project we are working on 👀

Even GenZ not feeling warm about GenZ?! GenZ folks want to weigh in here?

Will be interesting to see how much traction this gets at the federal level. I’ve had a few conversations lately with folks saying the housing crisis needs federal support.

New @DHMresearch blog post: WA voters weigh in on AI. Only 33% say they are optimists about the overall future of AI and 72% say private companies should be responsible for supporting employees who lose their job until they find a new one. Thoughts? https://t.co/r3YfaVjdbj

Housing got expensive really fast. Man who have been here don't want things to change, those who had the privilege and resources to buy in the last decade want to see their equity continue to grow, and folks without privilege and resources find it harder and harder to live here

This finding isn't a huge surprise, but at the policy level it highlights one of the biggest challenges in the Pacific Northwest:

56% of homeowners said they wanted to see an increase in the next 5 years. But, when asked about "the typical home in their community" only 45% wanted to see an increase. 1 in 10 people indicated they want their value to rise while other fall!

As I showed in the first tweet of the thread, the largest gap in opinions is found between home owners and renters. Homeownership as investment creates a dilemma for those who own homes but see the larger issue, and we see it in the data.

So surely the one of the things everyone in both states can agree on is that we need to increase the amount of housing being built! Right?! Not exactly. In a combined WA & OR sample only 30% want increased construction statewide and only 22% want it in their own community.

79% of Washingtonians said that high cost of living is going to limit the state's economic growth over the next decade. 72% said (in the final month of the 2023 legislative session) that they didn't think the leg was doing enough to address cost of living.

63% of Oregon voters said that their Legislature should focus on decreasing average rents.

Taking a step back, at a high-level voters say they want homelessness, cost of living, and affordable housing addressed, all of which are connected to housing. During their most recent respective legislative sessions, voters indicated that they want their leg to do something...

Housing is a complicated issue in the Pacific Northwest, and recent data from @DHMresearch statewide research in Washington highlights some of this complexity. Housing situation is highly correlated with opinions about housing policy. Homeowners aren't sure what they want.

All of that said, people in the PNW are still hopeful! 62% say homelessness can be solved in their communities with the right policies and resources.

But not everyone thinks so, and perhaps that is why folks are conflicted about housing policy. Despite the well documented need for more housing voters don't agree about how we get there (see my next thread). (4/5)

This surprises me because the correlation between high cost of housing and homelessness seems pretty clear! (3/5) https://t.co/4kmR5DmxlH

What is a surprise to me (though perhaps it shouldn't be) is what folks think causes homelessness. More than half in both WA & OR think homelessness is mostly the result of mental illness and drug addiction, not a lack of affordable places to live. (2/5)

In @DHMresearch's recent statewide research in both Washington and Oregon, voters identified homelessness as the top issue they want addressed. Not a surprise given how many of our neighbors face housing insecurity and are sleeping outside. (1/5)