91ÊÓƵ

Housing preference surveys typically generate similar results – however conflicting they may be.

“The normal survey says, ‘Do you want: a single-family house or an apartment? A big lot or a little lot? To be close to your job or far away?’ ” said John Williams, the deputy director of community development for Metro‘s Planning and Development Department. “… If you use results like that, what everyone does select is a five-acre, single-family house in the Pearl District. That doesn’t help us at all.”

In an effort to focus on what Portlanders truly prefer, and to better plan for the region’s future, Metro has issued a new residential preferences survey. Instead of asking people about their priorities in a perfect world, the new survey poses a series of “either/or” choices to nail down what Portlanders value most.

The survey starts by asking for demographic data about age and income, and then presents a series of questions tailored to the individual. For example, one survey included a question that asked whether it would be preferential to own a 950-square-foot condo in an urban neighborhood, for $840 per month, with a 60-minute commute to work; or, to rent a 680-square-foot apartment in a rural neighborhood, for $520 a month, with a 10-minute commute.

Following questions might pit square footage against commute time, or rent against location, and so forth. Respondents may not even like the choices presented, but that’s not the point.

“What we really are trying to learn is not exactly what is someone’s ideal house, but how do they weight the factors that go into a housing choice,” Williams said. “How does price compare with travel time (and) compare with access to parks (and) compare with size of unit and access to green space?”

Williams said the survey results – due in July – will help inform decisions about zoning, especially as they relate to the urban growth boundary. A draft of the next urban growth report – an assessment of regional objectives that is updated every five years – is due this summer.

To analyze the results, Metro is working with Portland State University research associate Roger Chen, who studies modeling for information, communication and transportation systems. Metro is issuing the survey through its own Opt In network – which has more than 20,000 members – but it also has contracted with DHM Research to conduct a more statistically valid survey of 200 people in the four metro counties: Multnomah, Clackamas, Washington and Clark County in Washington.

The Home Builders Association of Metropolitan Portland also has a stake in the survey. It’s helping fund the $75,000 effort, and looking to inform its members about what they should be building.

“Three-story townhomes are selling all day long,” said Justin Wood, government relations coordinator for the HBA. “The true question is not if that’s what they want, but if that’s what they have. We’re trying to gauge what people really want.”

Williams expects to see a preference for denser, urban living. While Metro has added thousands of acres inside the UGB over the past four decades, he said greater than 90 percent of building activity in the past five to 10 years has been in the urban core.

That could be due to a variety of factors, including an influx of people who value city living over suburbia, or perhaps difficulties securing money for infrastructure development on the fringe. Williams hopes the survey – available at – will shed some light.

“How do people make housing choices?” he queried. “It sounds like an obvious question, but we know where people live, but we don’t know how they make their choices over where to live … You’d be surprised at how little we actually know about this.”