Though there has been some improvement in Americans' attitudes on the housing market, a MacArthur Foundation survey determined that a number of concerns have persisted since the poll began three years ago.

The share of people who believe a downturn in the housing market has persisted to the present day has decreased steadily since 2013, although a majority still believes that poor conditions are ongoing or that worse ones are on the way. Respondents also said they believe it is more difficult to secure a middle-class lifestyle and that it is easier to fall into a lower economic class than it is to rise to a higher one.

"Decent housing at an affordable price remains a challenge for an increasing number of Americans, even after the recession has formally ended," said Julia Stasch, president of the MacArthur Foundation. "It is disturbing that people feel the 'American Dream' and prospects for social mobility are receding. This survey is a wake-up call. People want and expect solutions to the housing crisis to be a higher priority for both national and local leaders alike."

A combined share of 61 percent said they believe there is a continuing crisis in housing. Forty-one percent said they believe the country is "still in the middle" of a housing crisis, while 20 percent said they believe "the worst is yet to come."

This opinion has been shrinking each year, however. A combined share of 77 percent thought the United States was still in a housing crisis or due for worse conditions in 2013, and the combined share was down to 70 percent in the 2014 survey. However, the MacArthur Foundation suggests that the economic recession and large number of mortgage defaults in 2008 spurred concerns about housing affordability that continue to linger seven years later.

A majority of respondents said they have had to make sacrifices in the past three years to continue to afford their home, with 55 percent saying they had to make some sort of tradeoff in order to pay for their mortgage or rent. Twenty-one percent said they had to take a second job or work more, 17 percent stopped saving for their retirement, 14 percent took on credit card debt, and 12 percent cut back on healthy foods.

The survey found that renters were the most likely to make sacrifices, with 73 percent saying they had done so. Sixty-eight percent of Hispanic respondents, 67 percent of Millennials (defined as adults between the ages of 18 and 34), 64 percent of city residents, and 62 percent of black respondents said they had to make tradeoffs to afford their housing.

Fifty-eight percent said they thought it was difficult to find affordable rental housing in their community, the same share as in the 2014 survey. Those who considered it challenging to find an affordable home to purchase increased from 59 percent in 2014 to 60 percent in 2015.

Respondents who were making the median income were more likely to consider it difficult to find affordable challenging in their community, with 65 percent considering it difficult. Eighty percent of young adults and 89 percent of families living at the poverty level said it was a challenge to find an affordable home in their community.

The survey found that respondents were especially concerned about how they would be able to purchase a home with their available buying power. Seventy-nine percent said they considered it more likely for a middle-class person to fall into a lower economic class than it was for them to climb to a higher class. The MacArthur Foundation says this opinion was constant across different ages, incomes, and political parties. Only 14 percent considered it easier to rise to a higher economic class.

In defining the most important factors for a middle-class lifestyle, 56 percent said a stable job with a decent income was a key consideration. Thirty-one percent said owning a home or having stable, affordable housing was important.

Forty-five percent said they considered it much more likely for banks to foreclose on homeowners today than it was a generation ago. Thirty-one percent considered it somewhat more likely. The combined share of 76 percent who considered it more likely for banks to foreclose on a home was slightly lower than in the 2013 survey, when 81 percent held this opinion.

Thirty-seven percent said they believe it is somewhat less likely for families to build equity and wealth through homeownership today than it was 20 to 30 years ago. Twenty-five percent said they consider it much less likely to build equity and wealth this way.

Millennials had a positive attitude about the coming years, with 88 percent saying they were optimistic about their future. Forty-eight percent said they consider themselves to be very optimistic.

However, this generation also indicated that it was preparing for significant challenges along the way. Eighty-one percent said they considered saving for retirement to be more difficult than a generation ago. Millennials also said they believe it is more difficult today to purchase a home (76 percent), find a stable and well-paying job (71 percent) or have an affordable housing situation (71 percent).

Despite the concerns over housing, a majority of respondents consider buying a home to be a good long-term investment. Fifty-six percent held this view, while 38 percent said they don't think purchasing a home is a good way to build wealth. This distribution is an improvement from the 2013 survey, when 57 percent said buying a home was becoming less appealing.

Seven out of 10 respondents said they would like to buy a home, and 43 percent considered this purchase a high priority. Forty-six percent of black respondents and 53 percent of Millennial respondents gave fairly high or very high priority to homeownership.

For the first time in the survey, the share of people who said buying a home has become less appealing fell to less than half of all respondents. Forty-seven percent said buying a home has become less appealing, down from 54 percent in 2014 and 57 percent in 2013. Thirty-one percent said buying a home has become more appealing, while 17 percent said their opinion on the appeal of buying a home has not been changed by the economy.

Eighty percent of respondents said they believe housing affordability is a problem in the United States, including 36 percent who considered it a very serious problem and 24 percent who considered it a fairly serious problem. The MacArthur Foundation says this opinion is consistent across different ages, educational levels, income, and political parties.

A slight majority of 55 percent said they think the federal government is more involved in housing issues today than it has been in the past two decades. Fifty-three percent said they believe addressing housing affordability is not the federal government's responsibility, compared to 39 percent who think it is.

However, about half of the respondents said they want government officials to give more attention to housing matters. Forty-nine percent said they would like officials elected to federal office to treat affordable housing as a priority, including 27 percent who want it to be considered a very high priority and 22 percent who want it to be considered a fairly high affordability.

More people wanted state or local elected officials to treat housing affordability as a priority. Fifty-five percent said these officials should give attention to the issue, including 30 percent who said these officials should treat it as a very high priority and 25 percent who said they should treat it as a fairly high priority. Only 14 percent said they believe elected officials give high priority to affordable housing issues.

The survey was commissioned by the MacArthur Foundation and conducted by Hart Research Associates. A total of 1,401 adults were polled by telephone between April 27 and May 5.