For the last several months, Neighbors for More Neighbors has been working hard at the State Capitol to push forward important legislation that would allow more homes in more communities across our state. Today, with our coalition partners, we are releasing the results of a poll, which shows broad support among Minnesota voters for legislative action to improve housing affordability by intervening to stop cities from blocking housing construction.
85% of Minnesotans say that the cost of renting or buying a home in Minnesota is a major problem or somewhat a problem. This isn’t just an issue for young people; over 40% of respondents across all ages called this a major problem. Minnesota voters not only agree that there’s a problem with housing affordability, they even agree about how we should address it.
Minnesota voters know that a lack of housing supply is driving up housing costs, and the majority of Minnesota voters want elected leaders to prioritize building more housing over concerns about “neighborhood character” and “local control.”
- 55% of survey respondents said building more affordable housing is more important than protecting the character of neighborhoods from change, versus only 31% who prioritized neighborhood character.
- In a separate question, 58% of respondents said Minnesota Legislators should prioritize building more homes and bringing down housing costs over preserving the power of city governments to control what type of homes are built.
- Support for more housing is even higher among inner ring suburbs residents: 67% of these residents want more housing instead of continued local control, while only 29% of voters in inner ring suburbs would prioritize local control over expanding housing.
When asked specifically about legislation to protect comprehensive plans from frivolous lawsuits, over half of respondents agreed that the Legislature should make changes to allow comprehensive plans to be implemented without delay so we can build more homes.
In addition, over three quarters (76%) of Minnesotans agree that the Legislature should take action to address Minnesota’s housing shortage and the rising cost of housing. This number is even higher among residents aged 18-34, where 87 percent of respondents believe the Legislature should take action to address this issue.
The poll of registered voters, conducted by YouGov between April 4 and April 14, showed that only 4% of respondents said their city or town was doing a very good job of keeping housing affordable, while 40% said their town was doing a poor or very poor job of keeping housing affordable.
These results show that there is broad support for action at the legislature to take on the rising cost of housing by building more housing. Minnesota voters know that only legislative action can solve our housing shortage. The Minnesota legislature must allow cities to plan for growth using comprehensive plans and allow multi-family housing to be built without municipal roadblocks.
More poll results will come – so stay tuned to this space.
