Survey looks at housing issues in Concord

My latest survey showed some interesting perceptions on housing in Concord.

The Pulse is an independent survey that I have been publishing for the last 9+ years in order to identify and discuss local issues. There were 250 respondents in the last survey.

These are the responses to the statement: There should be no more housing construction in Concord because there is too much traffic.

27.76 percent, strongly agree.
15.51, agree.
15.10, neither agree nor disagree.
22.05, disagree.
19.59, strongly disagree.

Wow. 43 percent want to stop housing construction because of traffic issues, while 41 percent do not.
The housing crisis has been an ongoing and contentious topic lately, with people beating each other up over rent stabilization vs. (mysterious) free market solutions. Yet here we have a lot of people who believe we should not do anything at all.

At first I thought this might be because of the “location bias” of people living within our higher rental occupant zip codes (94519 and 94520), but further analysis did not indicate that this was the case.

I then sorted the responses by looking at a second question – whether those who were against further construction also knew someone who was “underhoused,” that is, someone who is living in someone else’s home who would otherwise be homeless and on the street. Bingo. Thirty-eight percent said they knew someone who was underhoused, which caused the number of people who were opposed to new construction to drop from 43 percent to 35 percent, a significant decrease, while the number of people who wanted housing construction to continue rose to 47 percent. Still, I am stunned that people do not want homes built.

Here are a couple of other interesting facts on the relationship between housing and traffic:

1. If you have lived in your home for 20 years and you take a look down your block, you will see many more cars than there were back then. That is because the kids have grown up and either stayed home or moved back since they can no longer afford to live on their own. Concord’s demographics show a big increase in those older than 18 and a decrease in those younger than 18. Hence, there are more drivers (and more cars) now.

2. A recent demographic study revealed that there are 51,000 employed people living in Concord. Of those, 7,000 are employed in the city, while 44,000 leave the city to go to work elsewhere. At the same time, 43,000 employees come into Concord from elsewhere. Concord is, in fact, a job center. We want economic development here, right?

Of the top 10 categories of employment, four have significant overlap. So even if we could somehow get only 20 percent of those commuting out of Concord to work in Concord (and vice versa), it would have a massive positive impact on traffic congestion. That’s another reason for the city to support local hiring and provide incentives for doing business within the community.

The second question I asked was: What caused the housing crisis in Concord?

5 percent said there is no housing crisis in Concord. (The Ostrich Head in Sand Society.)
7 percent said rent regulations in Concord. (But there are no rent regulations in Concord.)
2 percent said that city building fees are much higher than surrounding cities. (Oh yeah? Look at Walnut Creek.)
2 percent blamed it on a lack of government subsidies to developers to build apartments.
25 percent blamed it on “the market.”
9 percent said there are simply too many poor people. (Wow, that is really a rich statement.)
32 percent blamed it on investors seeking short-term profits by imposing large rent increases and promoting high tenant turnover to facilitate higher rents.
13 percent did not know.
6 percent had no idea but nevertheless believe it has to be someone’s fault.
Combining the market and the “bad boy” evicting landlord investors makes up 57 percent of the perceived problem-makers.

It upsets me that so many people blame the housing crisis on the hardest hit population, the poor. It also bothers me that so many people believe that Concord’s building and planning fees are higher than other cities and that we have rent control.

And what upsets me the most is the belief that there is no housing crisis at all. Oy vey.

The statements, questions, information and opinions herein are those of Edi Birsan and do not purport to reflect any policies or opinions of the city of Concord, including without limitation the Concord City Council, city of Concord staff, or any other people, institutions or organizations associated with the city of Concord. To comment or suggest questions and topics, write to edibirsan@gmail.com.