New research sets the parameters by which residents will accept affordable housing in their communities. If new neighborhoods do not hurt property values, contribute to overcrowding or make traffic any worse, people are more likely to support affordable housing in their own backyards, the third annual National Housing Opportunity Pulse survey found.

"The survey sheds new light on the conditions that encourage people to support affordable housing," said Pat Vredevoogd, the first vice president of the National Association of Realtors, which sponsors the study.

The NAR's hope is that the research will serve as a guide to local officials and give them "the political will to do what people want," said Vredevoogd, who is a working broker-agent in Grand Rapids, Mich.

"These are the conditions needed for people to support affordable housing, and they are things we know how to fix," she said.

The study specifically used the term "affordable housing" as opposed to "low and moderate-income housing" because the latter is a red flag to many people, according to Steven Hornburg, a principal in an Arlington, Va., research firm called Emerging Community Markets who designed the study with surveyor Gene Ulm of Public Opinion Strategies of Alexandria, Va.

"It's like the difference between asking people if they favor a root canal or they back good dental hygiene," he said.

The switch in terminology represents an effort to shift the debate "to a more neutral position," according to Hornburg. "If you ask a question with a negative connotation, you know what you are going to get because the term 'low and moderate income' has a widely help perception."

Ulm, who surveyed 1,600 people in mid-May about their attitudes concerning affordable housing, said respondents were highly concerned about the gamut of affordable housing problems -- not just those faced by low-income workers but also their children and their children's teachers.

People "like to be able to get hold of teachers; they don't want them to be 50 miles away," the surveyor said. "They want to know that the buy who puts out fires lives only a few miles away." And for the third consecutive year, eight out of ten said the lack of affordable housing is a big problem. Even when stacked against such other concerns as job layoffs and unemployment, terrorism, crime and environmental pollution, the issue is seen as the bigger problem. Indeed, only the lack of affordable health care options ranks higher.

In the surveying business, such a huge consensus of opinion is called a "damned right" issue. Yet, the problem isn't getting as much attention as it deserves at the local level. NAR hopes to change that.

As the first point of contact with people trying to buy a home, the group's one million-plus members "see first hand what the lack of affordable housing does to communities," said Vredevoogd, who is line to be NAR's president in 2007.

"We hope that local leaders learn from our survey and work with us to work smarter to the lack of affordable housing will be a problem of the past."

The latest study found that people will support affordable housing in their neighborhoods if it conforms to their standards -- or, as the NAR officer said, "if it is done right." For one thing, aesthetics are a big deal. They prefer single-family houses by a wide margin. But one two out of five said they'd accept apartments as long as they were no higher than four stories. Only one out of five would support anything any higher, even condominiums.

The study also found that more than 70 percent of the respondents would support building more affordable housing if it made for more efficient use of their tax dollars for public services, did not hurt local property values, did not contribute to overcrowding in schools, or did not further exacerbate clogged streets and highways.

"These aren't little numbers," said Ulm. "These are consensus opinions."

Published: June 2, 2005

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When Lew Sichelman first started writing about housing in 1969, he was the youngest real estate writer in the country. Now, 37 years later, he's one of the oldest -- and most decorated. He has been rated the top housing columnist in the country by the National Association of Realtors as well as by his peers in the National Association of Real Estate Editors. Indeed, NAREE has recognized his work on numerous occasions. One year - due to his advancing age, he can't recall which one - he earned top honors in the annual NAREE Journalism Contest in three out of the four major writing categories. It was the first time one writer has won so many NAREE awards in a single year. Known for his ability to make even the most difficult topics understandable, Sichelman also has been honored by the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association. He began providing in-depth coverage of and consumer-oriented information about housing and housing finance at the Washington Daily News, where he was real estate editor. He held that same position for nine more years at the Washington Star, which purchased the News in 1972. The Star, a so-called "writer's newspaper" which also had the misfortune of being an evening paper, was put out of its misery in 1981, and Sichelman, who had begun self-syndicating his column in 1978, decided to become a full-time columnist. Today, his column, "The Housing Scene," is distributed by United Media to newspapers throughout the country. He also is on the staff of National Mortgage News, an independent newspaper which is considered the bible of the mortgage business. And he writes for numerous other publications, including MarketWatch.com, where he answers readers questions once a week, Sports Illustrated (don't ask), RealtyTimes.com, BigBuilder and others. Sichelman is married, the father of five and grandfather of eleven.