Happiness Survey - City Council Presentation - October 2024 — File 24-1455

HAPPINESS SURVEY 2023 CITY OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS SOMERSTAT KATJANA BALLANTYNE MAYOR

What we’re doing today Introduction Why does the City run the Somerville Happiness Survey? 2023 Details Distribution of the most recent survey 2023 Results Exploration of findings Next Steps Planning improvements for 2025

Overview & Purpose • The Happiness Survey measures residents’ overall happiness and satisfaction with various aspects of life in Somerville and informs City decisions that support and enhance residents’ happiness. • SomerStat has conducted the survey every two years since 2011. • Previous analyses have resulted in expanded access to recycling services, greater investment in trees, and increased funding for open space and recreational land. Introduction

Why run the Happiness Survey? • Surveying a random, representative sample of 5,000 residents + targeted outreach to special populations provides insight into a broad cross-section of opinions that aren’t always heard in public meetings and online comments. • Asking about a lot of topics forces respondents to consider them relative to each other. • Biennial survey allows for longitudinal analysis. Introduction

2023 Survey Distribution • The 2023 survey was sent to 5,000 randomly-selected households in Somerville in June 2023 • Paper surveys in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and Haitian Creole • Online option in above languages + Nepali, Traditional Chinese, and Simplified Chinese • Reminder postcard sent to all a few weeks after the paper survey • We received 1,006 responses (~20% response rate) • Our sample overrepresents women, white people, homeowners, and high-income households, but almost all demographic groups have enough respondents to analyze • Keep in mind that results reflect sentiment in summer 2023! 2023 Details

Overall, Somerville residents are happy! And they’ve been happy for as long as we’ve been measuring it. 2023 Results

And they’re happy no matter the scale at which we ask the question. People are satisfied with their lives in general, their neighborhoods, and Somerville as a place to live. 2023 Results

The City can most affect residents’ satisfaction with Somerville as a place to live. Statistics can tell us which aspects of life in Somerville have the greatest effect on this measure for residents. 2023 Results

To make residents even more satisfied with Somerville… The factors that may “move the needle” most are: The beauty and physical setting of your neighborhood (max effect = 1.1) The convenience of getting where you want to go (max effect = 1.0) Social community events (max effect = 0.8) The availability of information about city services (max effect = 0.6) Concern about encountering crime and violence (max effect = -0.3) As of June 2023, we are generally doing well on all of these! 2023 Results

Respondents are mostly satisfied with neighborhood beauty Wards 2, 3, and 4 are somewhat less satisfied 2023 Results

Respondents are satisfied with convenience of getting around Especially in wards 1 and 6 2023 Results

Respondents are very satisfied with social community events And satisfaction has rebounded from 2021 2023 Results

Respondents are satisfied with the availability of information about city services across wards 2023 Results

Respondents are not very concerned about crime and violence Wards 1 and 4 are somewhat more concerned (as of June 2023) 2023 Results

These are more influential for homeowners while this is more influential for renters and this is influential for both groups. The convenience of getting where you want to go (max effect = 0.9 owners, 0.5 renters) The availability of information about city services (max effect = 0.9 owners, n.s. renters) Concern about encountering crime and violence (max effect = -0.4 owners, -0.2 renters) Social community events (max effect = 0.7 owners, 1.2 renters) The beauty and physical setting of your neighborhood (max effect = 1.1 owners, 1.0 renters) Keep in mind… The most influential factors can vary by demographic group 2023 Results

In general, respondents are most satisfied with social community events (which has rebounded since 2021), the Green Line Extension (which had recently opened), and their proximity to grocery stores & other amenities. 2023 Results

Respondents are least satisfied with the cost of housing, the maintenance of streets and sidewalks (especially wards 3 and 4), and the availability of childcare & out-of-school care (which has a large segment of non-parent “neutrals”). 2023 Results

Respondents are most concerned with their safety biking on a busy street, the presence of rats and mice (especially homeowners), and being priced out of Somerville (especially renters). 2023 Results

In open text questions, respondents suggested: Rent control & more affordability, as well as improved tenant rights. Both more and less cycling and cycling infrastructure. An extensive hatred for rats. More green spaces and composting. More frequent public transit and better paved roads. 2023 Results

Most frequent phrases include “bike lane,” “affordable housing,” “green space,” and related terms 2023 Results

Currently available products: • Open Data (2011-2023) • Dataset • Data dictionary • Data visualization • “One-page” Reports (2023) • Analysis is infinite. Currently available topics include explorations of demographic patterns, rates of reported discrimination, housing affordability, transportation options, and others • Please reach out to data@somervillema.gov with questions or requests for more topics for reports. Next Steps

2025 Survey Planning Topics/Questions • Soliciting survey topics/questions for 2025 • Balancing longitudinal data collection with new information Distribution • Improved address list • Improved sampling methods (hoping for block group representativeness) • Increased outreach to underrepresented groups • Postcards-first plan to increase response size Next Steps

QUESTIONS? CITY OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS SOMERSTAT KATJANA BALLANTYNE MAYOR