BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Every Tuesday, Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, sits down with LehighValleyNews.com politics reporter Tom Shortell for Lehigh Valley Political Pulse on WLVR.
They discuss the latest trends emerging from science-based polls to break down local, state and national campaigns and issues.
In this week's episode, Borick and Shortell talk about one of the hottest topics in the Lehigh Valley: housing.
Borick said the most recent study to come out of the institute, found that "people were most dissatisfied with the housing situation in the Lehigh Valley."
Factors that previously drove residents — buyers and renters — to the Lehigh Valley included pricing, affordability, accessibility to nearby cities and quality of life, Borick said.
"It was one of the areas that was most highly rated in our last polling a few years ago that had changed dramatically," he said. "Where people were having much more negative views about the housing situation in the region."
Local officials have seen "mixed results," in making headway regarding the issue, Borick said.
He shared that officials can speak to how often constituents voice their concerns about the issue to them, but added that concepts like affordable housing can be difficult for cities, municipalities or boroughs to enforce or encourage.
"So some of that you can constrain through your planning codes, but other things, you have to find ways to work in partnership," Borick said. "That's not always easy. Find ways to incentivize through tax structures, which are costly and sometimes slow moving as a mechanism to get the results.
"So housing is not a particularly easy topic, despite its saliency for government officials to embrace."
Want to take a deeper dive into the local housing market and its complicated relationship with elected officials?
Political Pulse airs throughout the day Tuesdays on 91.3 WLVR. You can listen to an extended version of the conversation by clicking the listen button above.
