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City presents 2024 citizen survey: housing affordability and jobs remain top concerns
Summary
City staff presented results from the 2024 mailed citizen survey (1,200 sampled), noting a response rate in the low 30s, a 95% confidence interval ±5.5%, and key findings that access to affordable housing scored lowest while perceptions of parks and emergency services scored high.
City staff presented the 2024 citizen survey results to the council, reviewing methodology and headline findings: the mailed survey used a random sample of 1,200 residential addresses, yielded a response rate in the low 30s and a 95% confidence interval of ±5.5 percentage points.
Staff said the city has conducted comprehensive mailed surveys since 2002 (skipping 2020) as a tool to measure resident satisfaction with services and to inform resource allocation. The instrument uses Likert-style questions and converts many results to a 0–100 scale for historical comparison.
Key findings staff highlighted included: perceptions of access to affordable housing scored 34 on the 0–100 scale (a low score and the lowest in the report); job opportunities also ranked comparatively low. High-scoring services included parks and emergency medical services. The report showed a decline in the use of local newspapers for city information and increased use of the city website and social media for civic information. Staff noted the city is considering electronic response options in future surveys while keeping mailed forms for those without internet access.
Staff explained how survey results inform policy: the city uses long-term trends and specific community feedback to assess resource allocation (for example, street maintenance, parks, and utility rate discussions) and to prepare for strategic planning. Councilors asked about sample size and whether it should change; staff said increasing the mailed sample would raise cost and produce only incremental gains in confidence interval and that exploring online response options may be more efficient.
Staff said the full survey publication will be posted on the city website and recommended council review the results during upcoming strategic planning work.
