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Voters strongly support land use policy changes that would make multifamily development easier in Massachusetts, according to a statewide survey commissioned by Abundant Housing Massachusetts.
The findings bolster the pro-housing production group’s campaign for more MBTA Communities-style mandates removing barriers to development.
“Our research shows there is a larger majority that is clearly in support of these reforms, despite the loud voices we are hearing,” said Jesse Kanson-Benanav, executive director of Abundant Housing Massachusetts, also known as AHMA.
The survey of 803 voters was conducted March 17-20 by MassINC polling group.
The MBTA Communities Act requires 177 cities and towns to provide multifamily zoning districts allowing by-right construction of housing. Thus far, 173 communities have submitted their rezoning plans to the state Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities, which reviews them for compliance with the 2021 law.
In January, the Supreme Judicial Court upheld the MBTA Communities law’s legality after reviewing a legal challenge from the town of Milton. Three towns in Plymouth County – Halifax, Marshfield and Middleborough – did not submit plans to the state before the most recent deadline for action plans. In February, Marshfield sued the EOHLC seeking to void the law on the grounds that it is unconstitutional.
And in March, voters in Lexington slashed the geographic scope of the previously approved MBTA Communities zoning districts after developers proposed more than 1,000 housing units in the past year, while at least one Republican gubernatorial candidate and several state legislators proposing budget amendments this month want to make big changes to the law or repeal it entirely.
But the AHMA survey found broad support for changing state and local land-use policy in Massachusetts to encourage more housing.
Just over 4 in 5 respondents said they support state legislators passing bills to make it easier to build more homes.
Seventy-nine percent specifically favored laws that allow more housing options near public transit, 78 percent backed allowing homes on smaller lots, 72 percent supported making it easy to subdivide large lots into smaller ones, 71 percent endorsed increasing developers’ flexibility when providing parking and 59 percent liked the idea of allowing small apartments in single-family neighborhoods.
Notably, nearly two-thirds of respondents said production of housing at affordable prices is more important than preserving “neighborhood character,” a common objection cited by opponents of higher density.
AHMA is lobbying Beacon Hill legislators in support of the “Act to Promote Yes in My Backyard,” which sponsors say would help encourage “missing middle” housing production like small apartment buildings.
Co-sponsored by state Reps. Andy Vargas and Kevin Hogan and state Sen. Brendon Crichton, it would allow by-right construction of up to five homes on all lots with water and sewer service, and three homes on all other lots. The bill also eliminates minimum lot sizes and parking requirements for new residential developments.
Respondents also supported potential reforms listed in the Healey administration’s “Unlocking Housing Production” report released in February, which recommended legalizing two-family dwellings statewide and eliminating minimum lot sizes.
Although the survey findings cut across demographic lines, renters and non-white voters were more likely to support accelerating housing production, Kanson-Benanav said.
