Report · Culture

Most Americans have never faced housing instability

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Most Americans (59%) say they have never experienced any form of housing instability, according to a Verasight survey conducted March 6-16, 2026. That leaves roughly four-in-ten (41%) who have faced at least one.

The most widely reported, at 32%, is temporarily staying with relatives, friends, or couch-surfing, followed by hotel or motel stays (15%), makeshift or uninhabitable spaces (10%), RVs or campers (8%), and outdoor locations or short-term transitional housing (7% each).

Topline

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Selected responses

Most Americans have never faced housing instability.

Experiences with housing instability

  • None of the listed housing-instability experiences 59.3%
  • Temporarily stayed with others or couch-surfed 32.4%
  • Temporarily stayed in a hotel or motel 15.1%
  • Stayed in a place not meant for housing 10.1%
  • Stayed in an RV or camper 7.7%
  • Stayed outdoors 6.9%
  • Stayed in short-term transitional housing 6.9%

2026 · base n 1,000 · +/- 3.6%

Module 4: Identity, Politics, & Social Trust

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Methodology

Full methodology
Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting
Field dates
2026-03-06 → 2026-03-16
Base (unweighted)
1,000
Margin of error
+/- 3.6%
Module
Module 4: Identity, Politics, & Social Trust

Source

Citation

Verasight Client Omnibus Survey #2026-044, fielded March 6-16, 2026, N=1,000 US adults age 18+, +/- 3.6%.

https://reports.verasight.io/r/omnibus-2026-044#q-4-7

Verasight survey methodology

How Verasight conducts surveys.

This page describes the Verasight general survey contract, separate from how the Data Library packages it. When a wave report is published, its field dates, sample sizes, and module breakdown are listed in that report.

Mode
Verasight panel recruited via random address-based sampling, random person-to-person text messaging, and dynamic online targeting.
Population
US adults age 18+.
Sample design
Surveys are run as omnibus or single-topic waves. Omnibus waves are split into modules with their own respondent set, typically around one thousand respondents per module.
Field window
Each wave specifies its own field dates. Most omnibus waves field across roughly two weeks.
Weighting
Per-module weighting to CPS targets including age, race and ethnicity, sex, income, education, region, and metropolitan status.
Partisanship benchmark
Pew Research Center's NPORS benchmarking surveys, three-year running average.
Vote benchmark
2024 presidential vote population benchmarks.
Margin of error
Typically about plus or minus 3.4 to 3.6 percent per module at standard module sizes. Question-level MoE is recomputed when a base shrinks materially below the module baseline.
Reporting
The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io. Verified legacy reports remain on their original hosts, and unpublished reports are marked pending.
Transparency
Verasight is a member of the American Association for Public Opinion Research Transparency Initiative.

The canonical report hub is reports.verasight.io; older reports may remain on verified legacy hosts.