Poll: Rent, mortgage tough for 6 in 10 on LI

About six in 10 Long Islanders report they have at least some difficulty in paying their rent or mortgage, according to the Long Island Index poll out Wednesday -- the highest percentage since the question was first asked on the poll in 2003.

The poll found that 61 percent of those surveyed said it was "somewhat difficult" or "very difficult" to pay the rent or mortgage in an average month. In 2003, 35 percent reported it was somewhat or very difficult to pay the rent or mortgage.

"People continue to have problems living affordably on Long Island," said Leonie Huddy, director of Stony Brook University's Center for Survey Research, which conducted the Index's poll last fall.

"I guess there's this notion we may be living beyond our means. Cost of living is very high here; jobs haven't kept pace," and it's particularly acute, she said, among young people and those with low incomes.

But those with higher incomes also are feeling the pinch. Among those earning more than $100,000, 47 percent noted some difficulty in paying housing costs.

The poll also found that many Long Islanders are worried about the future. About 48 percent of the 810 Long Island residents polled for the Index's survey said they "think things in their county are headed in the wrong direction," with 50 percent of Nassau County residents feeling that way and 45 percent of Suffolk County residents having a similar attitude. In 2010, 45 percent of all Long Islanders said they thought things were headed in the wrong direction.

In a separate recent Newsday / Siena College Research Institute poll, 57 percent of 804 registered voters surveyed said Nassau and Suffolk counties were headed in the wrong direction.

The differences in the two polls on a similar question may be linked to differences among those surveyed, Huddy said. The Index poll may have had more young respondents, she said, since it wasn't limited to registered voters, who tend to be older. Huddy said younger people "tend to be more positive."

The Index's telephone survey was conducted between Oct. 3 and Nov. 7, 2011. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.

The Index noted that although a majority -- 83 percent -- reported happiness with their life, many were worried about the region's future.

And as it has in every Long Island Index poll in the last eight years, the largest portion of respondents, 45 percent this year, cited local taxes as their county's most common problem.

Susan Sexton, 60, of North Bellmore, a poll respondent, said she and her husband were considering moving to lower-cost North Carolina, even though their home's mortgage was paid off. The reason: "We're looking to retire, and we don't think we can stay here to pay the taxes," said Sexton, a teacher's aide. She said her husband owns an auto body shop.

Sexton, a lifelong Long Islander, was among 50 percent of those polled who said they were "somewhat" or "very likely" to leave in the next five years.

Ed Pleva, 22, of West Babylon, said he is not planning to leave. But he was among 41 percent who said high property taxes were an "extremely serious" problem.

A May 2011 graduate of Hofstra University, Pleva counts himself fortunate to have a job in real estate finance. He's living at home with his mother while he saves up to one day buy a home of his own.

"Why waste money on an apartment now?" he said. "I could buy a house in Louisiana and pay a quarter of the taxes" that he would pay on Long Island.

Still, he said, "I don't plan on relocating. I would stay, because this is where I grew up. This is where my job is . . . I have been here my whole life. It's what I'm used to."