On Monday, November 6, 2023 the Housing Diversity Study Committee (HDSC) presented findings taken from the HSDC Public Opinion Survey Study conducted by ReconMR.  Chair Kevin Justh opened the meeting by providing context to the committee’s process, “We are getting toward the end of our journey here as a committee and this [survey results] is a critical piece of this, but I think it’s informative to know how we got here.”  Over the past forty years there have been four successive comprehensive plans which have called for the Town to address the need for affordable housing within a general framework.  However, the last comprehensive plan, “Said we actually need to do something about this and do a Housing Diversity Study and take the necessary next steps,” Justh said. The Housing Diversity Study Committee was formed with this in mind.

The Town Council formed this committee, “In order for us to take the time to really dive into all of the issues.  For the last year we have heard from creators of affordable housing, members of the community, the Town and we have started to form what those specific strategies are to execute as suggested in the Housing Diversity Study and the 2019 Comprehensive Plan,” Justh said.  The committee began forming what were the basis of those recommendations, but is relying on the survey to truly understand where the community stands.  “We have heard a lot of public comment, we have had a lot of engaged citizens, but this survey is one of the most critical pieces to understanding what the community thinks of all of this,” he said.

Justh pointed out that the HDSC page shows the draft recommendations which include community sentiment drawn from the survey and direct public feedback.  However, Justh said, “There may be times where you see recommendations that don’t fully align with community sentiment and that’s because we are considering other things like financial and practical feasibility; and things that have worked in other communities. So, a key piece of the survey is to see if there are places where it appears we are deviating from what appears to be the public sentiment and explain why that is.”

Chris Riepe, Senior Vice President of Insights & Analytics of ReconMR, introduced the overview findings of the survey.  “It is a pleasure working with a client that is as engaged as you are; and are doing it because [you] want to learn something,” Riepe said.  The goal of the survey, according to Riepe, was to gauge community sentiment, “To measure what does the community think about these issues? What are their feelings and where are their preferences?”  Riepe said that the top take-aways that rose to the top of their survey analysis are:

There is a definite interest in increasing densification; with a lot of preference for a medium density-level of residence.

There is a desire and recognition that housing needs to be made more affordable, but there is mixed reaction on how the Town should go ahead and do that and what is the Town’s role in increasing affordability? 

There is a lot of interest in change.  There is a large majority that are looking for something other than status quo.  With that said, there is also a consistent minority ranging from 13% to 20% of the residents that are wanting to maintain status quo.

Nathan Wiggin, also from ReconMR, provided a detailed analysis of the public opinion survey results.  Wiggin said that he echoed Riepe, “There are several difference of opinions and there is no one-size-fits-all solution for something as complex as housing. We have seen this in previous housing studies and we are going to see it again.”  Wiggin began with a summary slide which elaborated on the top findings mentioned by Riepe.

Wiggin said that 800-900 people responded to the survey.  They looked at the results by different demographics and compared the demographics of the survey with the demographics of the Town.  "For the most part we matched fairly closely, but we did a little bit of weighting," he said within the 18-34 year old age group.  As is typical of all surveys, younger residents are likely less likely to respond and harder to get a hold of. In Cape Elizabeth, "This age group represents roughly 1/3 of the population," and the bump-up ensures, "That this age group are counted in proportion to their demographic makeup of the city," Wiggin said.

Below are some slides taken from the Survey Report.  

The video of the full presentation is available here.  The presentation from ReconMR will be posted when made available.  

The Housing Diversity Study Committee will meet next on November 20, 2023 at 6:15 p.m.