The Status of Housing Ballot Measures Across The Country
This election cycle, voters got the chance to address the housing crisis directly. Here's a rundown of what happened in state and local elections.
Local elections matter and in this cycle, voters saw more than two dozen individual state and local ballot measures that focused on housing, specifically. During a growing housing crisis—and, now, under a President-elect with an unclear federal agenda—voters were able to weigh in on potential funding mechanisms to combat housing scarcity and precarity. This included authorizing new bonds and raising sales taxes to construct, preserve and purchase affordable units; or, increasing tenant protections such as rent control. Both California and Arizona asked voters to make decisions that might address homelessness and unhoused populations—each with their own priorities and strategies to do so.
We've selected a handful of diverse measures from major cities and states across the country; from raising taxes to generate large-scale support for the unhoused, to the necessity of local funding to boost affordability after natural disasters, and various ways tenant protections are enacted. The following information is based on a list of state and local measures compiled by Yonah Freemark, principal research associate in the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute, accurate at time of publish; as votes are still being counted, many of these are projections, and have been noted as such.
Denver, Colorado Ballot Issue 2R—FAILING Colorado's housing deficit, according to the , is second only to California's. The state currently faces a 100,000 unit shortage; 40,000 of those missing units are in Denver alone. Denver voters have been asked to increase the sales tax to support the construction of new affordable housing via Ballot Issue 2R, which would have raised sales taxes on non-essentials (items discluding food, gas, personal hygiene products, and medical supplies) to five cents per $10 spent to generate $100 million. This would have produced 40,000 new units over the next ten years. Though "details haven't been ironed out yet" for how the funds would have been dispersed to projects, per the notes it would have supported ADUs for low/middle-income households, increased investment in mixed-income developments and preserved existing income-restricted homeownership and rental units.
While the ballot issue was supported by Mayor Mike Johnston, the current vote count shows Denver residents rejecting the ballot issue 51 to 48. Opposition has been centered around the cost to residents; coupled with Ballot Issue 2Q—another sales tax increase to support the local health provider network, which is on track to be approved by voters—the two increases would have brought the total sales tax well above nine percent, per , representing "the largest dedicated sales tax in city history."
Hoboken, New Jersey Rent Control Referendum—FAILED Hoboken currently has laws surrounding rental increases: According to the city , "landlords are limited to raising rent to 5% or the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. If a tenant had been in the property for three years or more before leaving, there is a maximum of 25% increase in rent. This increase can only happen once every three years for the same unit." This week, residents voted on a referendum to allow "decontrol"—the ability for a landlord to raise the rent on units that become vacant (without the five percent limit or 25 percent maximum) if they pay a $2,500 fee into the city's affordable housing trust fund. It would have only applied to new tenants and apartments re-rented after a three year-or-longer tenancy.
, proponents argued that "it will utilize rent-controlled housing to the benefit of those who need housing subsidies by providing new revenue sources to build it, and it will allow new tenants to move into improved apartments at rent they can afford." The referendum's failure was a vote to maintain the current policy, a win for those who were concerned that the referendum, if passed, would have incentivized landlords to evict or harass longtime tenants in order to raise rents.
Asheville, North Carolina $20 million bond for housing trust fund—PASSED Currently, the city of Asheville operates a Housing Trust Fund, which is used to construct affordable housing units via construction loans, adaptive reuse and conversions, and down payment assistance loans, among other mechanisms that have helped the city build 1,300 new units between 2001 and 2019. Now, in the wake of Hurricane Helene, which notes has caused nearly $15 billion in damage to the region's housing, voters have passed a $20 million bond to support existing affordable housing endeavors.
California Statewide Prop 5—FAILED Currently, in California, local bond measures require a two-thirds supermajority (66.67 percent) of votes to pass. Proposition 5 would have enabled local bond measures related to housing and public infrastructure to only need 55 percent of the vote to pass. It would have applied to measures up for vote this year; currently, it is on track to fail 56-44 percent.
California Statewide Prop 33—FAILED According to , soaring housing costs in the 1970s and '80s led some California cities to limit rent increases even on units that have become vacant, but the 1995 Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act restricts such practices, "along with any rent control on single-family homes or those built after 1995." Since then, there have been three attempts to repeal it in favor of rent control. Proposition 33, which failed across the state, marks the fourth attempt; it would have allowed individual cities the ability to enforce rent controls on existing tenant-occupied properties and/or those that become vacant.
notes that critics of Proposition 33 have feared, if passed, landlords would raise any below-market rents in preparation for possible rent control; some also believe that rent controls could stifle new housing construction, per.
Los Angeles, California Measure A—PASSED Los Angelenos voted to support Measure A 53 percent to 46 percent as of November 6. The measure would raise the sales tax one-half percent to support homelessness services. It also repeals and effectively replaces Measure H, passed in 2017, that generated a quarter of a cent per dollar spent and was set to expire in 2027. Measure H has generally been considered successful; according to , funds raised helped place more than 40,000 unhoused individuals into permanent housing and more than 80,000 into temporary housing. Measure A would expand on existing programs and further preventative endeavors like rent support and eviction defense.
Scrutiny, however, has been focused on how Measure H funds have been used. "Locally, homeless service providers have been sued by the state for failing to convert motels into homeless housing, and others have come under investigation over charging for nutritious meals that were never provided to shelter residents," reads the story. Measure A has thus included increased oversight while audits continue.
Arizona Statewide Proposition 312—PASSED In Tucson, Arizona, city officials have opted to address homeless encampments via a "housing first" strategy; according to , rather than clearing encampments, officials instead, offer services, clean up trash, and monitor if such encampments pose no risk to public safety. "Law enforcement is only called to encampments when there are reports of violent or criminal activity, which are then swept away," reads the story. Property owners have sued the city over this practice, claiming they were, "negatively impacted by the masses of garbage and human waste."
Republican lawmakers introduced Proposition 312, which passed this week. It will allow property owners to claim a tax refund for costs they've incurred "when cities maintain a 'public nuisance' or show a pattern of not enforcing laws frequently invoked against unhoused people, like loitering or obstructing public thoroughfares."
