Americans Willing to Raise Taxes for Housing, Study Finds

Americans are willing to pay $12 billion to $17 billion a year in added taxes to fund six specific new federal programs to expand home ownership and housing opportunities for middle-class, working-class and poor families.

This is a key finding of an opinion survey conducted for the Orange, N.J.-based National Housing Institute, whose chairman said that American public opinion favors an activist federal government paying for state and local governments--in partnership with the private and nonprofit sectors--to run effective housing programs.

David Schwartz added that by a margin of 6 to 1, Americans are more likely than not to vote for a presidential candidate who advocates significant new federal housing initiatives.

The six initiatives are: A down payment loan program for young families, a mortgage-rate reduction fund, emergency loans and grants to prevent homelessness, a program to finance needed dwelling unit modifications for the frail elderly, tax benefits for employer-assisted housing and public financing to rehabilitate old and vacant buildings for low-income housing.

By a ratio of 2 to 1, the 1,000 people surveyed said they would pay an additional $120 a year in taxes to support a similar package of federal housing programs, Schwartz said, adding that more than 800,000 families are currently on the waiting list for federal public housing. Several of the programs have already been tested and found effective in New Jersey, he said. For example, the Prevention of Homelessness Program is credited with saving more than 10,000 people from the demoralization of life on the streets in 1984-85.