Unidos US, an Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) campaign Steering Committee member, hosted in June an installment of its Latino Vote Briefing Series that focused on affordable housing concerns among Latino voters. The installment, “How Housing Concerns Are Shaping Latino Voter Sentiment,” covered national survey results of Latino voters and found that across Hispanic demographic subgroups, housing prices and cost of living are the primary financial issues that voters would like elected representatives to address. Economic issues were named as four out of five of the top policy issues identified by Latino voters surveyed, and one in four Latino voters identified a lack of affordable housing and high rental costs as one of their top three issues. Across demographic groups, housing concerns were also identified as the biggest financial hardship that Latino voters believe they are facing, which is reflected in the top economic issue areas that respondents identified and draws attention to the significant impact that housing costs have on the Latino community. To effectively respond to the housing concerns of Latino voters, Unidos US recommends that policymakers address both the supply of and demand for affordable housing. The demand-side recommendations include investing in and expanding programs, like rental assistance, that help offset the high costs of housing and bridge the gap between rents and incomes.
“Given the saliency of this issue, candidates that reach out and capture the attention of Latino voters with their solutions to address housing affordability can make important inroads,” said Clarissa Martínez De Castro, vice president of the UnidosUS Latino Vote Initiative. “This is particularly true as many Latinos are forming their opinions about parties and candidates, with one in five Latinos expected to vote in 2024 doing so for the first time in a presidential election.”
A detailed memo on Latino voters and housing, as well as the briefing slides, are available here.