Connecticut voters want the state to focus on easing rising home costs and increasing its affordable housing stock.
That's the major takeaway from a new poll by public opinion research firm YouGov and the Regional Plan Association, a New York-based consultancy group. They published the results Thursday, a year before Election Day.
The YouGov/RPA poll surveyed 800 registered Democrats, Independents and Republicans in early October, and nearly 90% of the respondents said they want the state to address housing affordability. In fact, it was the No. 1 voter concern in the poll — ranking narrowly ahead of other issues such as crime, education, healthcare costs, homelessness, immigration and taxes.
Connecticut voters also support some of the key measures inside a housing bill the Legislature passed this year, the poll indicated. Gov. Ned Lamont reluctantly vetoed the bill in late June in part because of the pushback he heard from city-level lawmakers across the state.
"Connecticut voters across political parties, incomes and regions overwhelmingly say that they want more homes that people can afford," Pete Harrison, RPA's Connecticut director, said in a statement Thursday. "Our state should be a great place for everyone to find a home, from working families looking for a starter home to seniors looking to downsize to teachers and firefighters who want to live in the communities they serve."
Connecticut faces severe housing shortage
In some of the other noteworthy poll results, only 12% of respondents said they believe their city or town is doing a good job of keeping housing affordable — 77% said there aren't enough homes in their community that the average earner can afford.
Like many of its New England counterparts, Connecticut finds itself in a severe housing shortage. The state has a 100,000-to-150,000-unit deficit that stems from "a pattern of chronic underproduction spanning decades," according to a May study from the Connecticut Business and Industry Association. A separate study from consulting firm ECONorthwest places Connecticut's shortage closer to 380,000 units.
State lawmakers have said they want to fix the issue, but passing legislation that meets the goal has been a point of contention all year. Lawmakers passed a major housing bill in June that would have added new rules regarding transit-oriented development, parking and affordable housing. The bill would also have allowed real estate developers to construct townhouses and apartment buildings on land zoned for businesses.
State Republicans, however, criticized the bill for months, arguing that a statewide rule on building on commercial land would strip zoning law powers away from cities and towns.
About 73% of YouGov/RPA poll respondents said they support requiring towns to build more housing, while 72% said they were in favor of incentivizing communities to increase transit-oriented developments.
In the poll, 86% of the respondents also strongly supported converting vacant office buildings and strip malls into housing.
Respondents showing that much support for those specific measures indicates "there is wide consensus from voters in Connecticut for concrete legislative action," RPA president Tom Wright said in a statement.