Winning the Message on Housing Affordability
New polling from Groundwork Action and Data for Progress finds voters across party lines want Democrats to take on corporate power in the housing market and offer material benefits to families, not focus on bureaucratic processes or just adding supply. Corporate landlords are deeply unpopular and Democrats should name them as villains, while holding Trump to account on his promises to take on the private investors buying up housing.
1. Voters are deeply concerned about surging housing costs.
Roughly three-quarters of voters (74%) are concerned about the rising cost of housing, with nearly half (47%) “very concerned:”
- 72% say housing is getting less affordable for their family – second only to groceries at 78%.
- 55% say President Trump is not focused enough on lowering the cost of housing, including more than two-thirds (68%) of Independent voters.
2. Americans want solutions that take on corporate power to lower housing costs.
Polling from Groundwork and Data for Progress finds voters across party lines strongly believe confronting corporate power is key to bringing down housing prices:
- 64% say the best way to lower housing prices is to “crack down on corporate landlords and developers who jack up prices” vs. just 34% who preferred “follow simple economics: increase supply to meet demand.” This majority holds across parties: Democrats (67%), Republicans (61%), and Independents (62%).
- 80% of voters support establishing limits on how much a landlord can increase rents each year, including 79% of Republicans and 73% of Independents.
- 75% support preventing landlords from using algorithms and other technologies to set rent prices, including 72% of Republicans and 71% of Independents.
- 73% support banning large institutional and corporate investors, like private equity firms, from buying single-family homes, including 74% of Republicans and 75% of Independents.
Deploying named villains through accessible messaging garners overwhelming support from voters across party lines:
- Democrats in Congress should not be afraid to call out “corporate landlords.” They are the most unpopular actors in the housing space (-45 net favorability) – far more unpopular than “landlords” generally (-6 net favorability).
- Top-performing message takes on corporate profits: “Building more housing won’t bring down prices if the only new projects are the luxury condos and suburban McMansions that juice profits for private developers. We need a government that will… [make] it easier to build more of the homes that working Americans can actually afford…”
- At least 84% of voters across parties say this plan will effectively lower the cost of housing.
3. Voters strongly prefer housing solutions that provide them with direct and tangible benefits over supply and process-based arguments.
Voters’ hostility towards corporate actors echoes August polling from Groundwork Action that found “cracking down on corporate landlords who raise rents beyond the cost of living” was the top-performing way to effectively lower the cost of housing, with 60% support. Cutting red tape and overriding local NIMBY laws were among the worst performers.
In addition to policies that tackle corporate greed, voters overwhelmingly support policy solutions that provide direct and tangible benefits to consumers. Voters want to see elected officials take on corporate power, and one of the clearest ways to demonstrate that is by rebalancing the housing market away from corporate actors and towards consumers struggling with high costs.
For example, five policies proposed in a recent Groundwork report to directly lower mortgage costs and cut out mortgage middlemen earn support from at least two-thirds of voters. Translating these policies into accessible messaging that clearly explains how consumers will directly benefit allows Democrats in Congress to fight for a housing market that serves families, not just big banks and private developers:
- Portable mortgages: “…Whether because it’s too big or too small, families get tied to a home because they can’t afford to give up a low interest rate… We need interest rates to come down across the board and ensure that if you like your mortgage rate you can keep it…”
- 80% of voters, including at least 78% of both Republicans and Independents, say this plan will effectively lower the cost of housing.
- Direct mortgage lending: “Thanks to high interest rates, the typical first-time homebuyer in America today is 40 years old – a record high… If the federal government can lend low-cost loans directly to businesses, why can’t they do the same for hard-working Americans? It’s time the government takes direct action to lower the cost of housing for ordinary Americans.”
- 78% of voters, including 79% of Republicans and 73% of Independents, say this plan will effectively lower the cost of housing.
4. Democrats should be willing to work with Trump on populist proposals to lower housing costs – if he’s actually serious about them.
Democrats in Congress should express willingness to work with Trump on his recent proposal to ban private investors from purchasing single family homes if Republicans in Congress take them up. Reflexively opposing it simply because of Trump’s support puts Democrats at odds with voters:
- Trump’s recent proposal to ban private investors from purchasing single family homes is both popular with voters (73% support) and believed to be effective at lowering costs (72% agree).
If such a ban passed with Democratic support, Democrats stand to gain more than Trump:
- Two-thirds of voters say they would view Democrats favorably if they worked with Trump on passage, including 65% of Republicans and 62% of Independents.
- At the same time, 75% of voters, including two-thirds of Republicans, say Trump would still need to do more to show he’s serious about lowering costs.