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Survey shows prolonged housing crisis undermines confidence in American Dream

Xinhua, June 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Most Americans are still living in the shadow of the housing crisis that began seven years ago, undermining their confidence in the American Dream, a survey showed Tuesday.

Despite some improvements in the housing market over the past several years, 61 percent of Americans believe the country is " still in the middle" of the housing crisis or "the worst is yet to come," according to the 2015 How Housing Matters survey conducted by Hart Research Associates and commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation.

Housing affordability continues to be a serious problem for majorities of Americans today. About 55 percent of Americans have had to make at least one sacrifice or tradeoff -- including taking an additional job, stopping saving for retirement, accumulating credit card debt, or cutting back on healthy nutritious foods -- in the past three years in order to cover their rent or mortgage, the survey said.

"Decent housing at an affordable price remains a challenge for an increasing number of Americans, even after the recession has formally ended," said MacArthur President Julia Stasch. "It is disturbing that people feel the American dream and prospects for social mobility are receding. This survey is a wake-up call."

The survey, interviewing 1401 adults around the country between April 27 and May 5, underscores the importance of housing crisis to the American public's pessimism about the potential for social mobility.

The American public remains more worried and concerned than hopeful and confident about the nation's future, as households lost trillions of dollars in wealth following the burst of the housing bubble and the recovery in the housing sector remains slow.

The overwhelming majority of Americans today think it is more difficult for young people to achieve a secure middle-class lifestyle than it used to be, according to the survey. Four in five Americans believe it is more likely for middle-class people to fall into a lower economic class than for people in lower economic classes to rise into the middle class -- a belief that persists across political party, age, and income.

"The idea that downward mobility is more likely today than upward mobility turns the American Dream on its head, and is an indicator of how badly confidence has been eroded," said Geoffrey Garin, president of Hart Research Associates. Endite