You often hear that this is a great time to buy a home because rates are low and home prices are still attractive. But the majority of Americans think housing is still unaffordable, a recent survey shows.

About 6 in 10 Americans say it's challenging to find affordable, quality housing in their community, regardless of whether you want buy or rent. The findings come from an annual survey on housing attitudes commissioned by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and conducted by Hart Research Associates.

Struggling to make housing payments

More than half of the respondents in the survey say they have had to make at least one sacrifice in the last three years to pay for their mortgage or rent. The sacrifices included taking a second job, deferring retirement savings, accumulating credit card debt, cutting back on health care and healthy foods and moving to a neighborhood where they felt less or one with worse schools.

The public's perspective on the housing recovery also is pretty pessimistic, according to the survey.

"The American people do not see the housing crisis as something that is behind us," says Geoff Garin, president of Hart Research Associates.

About 7 in 10 respondents said that we are still in the midst of the housing crisis or that the worse has yet to come.

I want a home!

Still, the American dream of owning a home isn't dead.

Even though a growing number of people say that renting is becoming more appealing than buying, according to the survey, about 70 percent of respondents say the aspire to own a home.

But they don't always look at it as an investment.

About half say it's an "excellent long-term investment," and about 43 percent say that's no longer the case.

What do you think?

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