HOUSING TYPE

Cities are a conglomeration of housing stock and we believe that the type of housing city residents live in may have an impact on their perception of community noise. Most vulnerable are often those who dwell in shared housing such as apartment buildings or multi-family units and are at the mercy–sound wise–of those who live above, below, or beside them.

Further, renters and owners percentages in a given community may capture a community’s stability, which may additionally impact both sound levels and sound perception.

A large number of our survey respondents were renters who lived in shared spaces. Owners tended to live in single family homes.

The majority of respondents owned their own home (roughly 60%). Comparing this to the owner-occupied housing unit rate in both Somerville and Boston (34.3% and 34.2%, respectively), we see an over-representation of home owners in our survey.

Our goal is to create a comprehensive report card, which means that we need to hear from you. Please Click HERE to fill out our noise survey so that your response can be included in our next update.