Poll: Most Granite Staters support bills to override zoning policies, encourage housing
The poll found that 55% of respondents considered New Hampshire's housing shortage and high prices to be the number one issue facing Granite Staters. (Photo by Dan)
Midway through the 2025 legislative session, large majorities of Granite Staters say they support legislation aimed at expanding housing in the state, according to a poll commissioned by New Hampshire Housing Action, an advocacy group.
According to the poll, conducted in early March by YouGov, 88% of respondents said they would support legislation to allow residential homes to be built in commercial zones; 76% would support laws requiring cities and towns to allow homes to be built on smaller lot sizes; and 76% would support allowing property owners to build detached accessory dwelling units by right.
The poll found that 55% of respondents considered New Hampshire's housing shortage and high prices to be the number one issue facing Granite Staters, surpassing inflation, taxes, homelessness, health care costs, and immigration. And 80% said the cost of housing is 'a problem' in the state.
'The message is clear: New Hampshire is experiencing a severe housing shortage that is being felt from southern New Hampshire to the North Country and all across the state,' Nick Taylor, director of Housing Action NH, said in a statement.
The poll was released as lawmakers are considering a number of bills aimed at increasing housing development by requiring cities and towns to change zoning policies seen as barriers to construction.
One bill, House Bill 577, would allow the construction of detached accessory units — additional units that are not directly attached to the primary resident — by right, stopping cities and towns from passing zoning ordinances that automatically exclude them. Another, House Bill 382, would restrict the minimum number of parking spaces a municipality could require of housing developments to one space per unit, in an attempt to block what some developers say are unnecessary burdens.
Senate Bill 284 would also limit the minimum number parking spaces in town zoning codes, while Senate Bill 84 would block cities and towns from setting minimum lot sizes of more than one acre for residential homes serviced by sewer and water lines — for at least 50% of residential zoned land. And House Bill 631 would allow property owners in commercial zones to build residential units, while allowing cities and towns to impose some restrictions.
HB 577, HB 382, and HB 631 have passed the House and are currently being considered in the Senate Commerce Committee. SB 284 and SB 84 have passed the Senate and are being taken up in the House Housing Committee.
The bills have the support of affordable housing advocates and industry groups in construction, such as the New Hampshire Homebuilders Association and Housing Action New Hampshire. But they have drawn criticism from the New Hampshire Municipal Association, which represents cities and towns, and another conservative group, the Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers. Opponents say the bills improperly insert the state into local zoning code decisions, and that municipalities should be allowed to decide how best to change their codes to expand housing.
Gov. Kelly Ayotte has vowed to help combat the housing crisis in part by directing state agencies such as the Department of Environmental Services and the Fish and Game Department to speed up their permitting processes, promising to guarantee the state permitting process takes no more than 60 days for developers.
But the House Finance Committee's recommended version of the state's two budget bills, House Bill 1 and House Bill 2, makes a number of cuts to agencies and programs designed to help expand housing. The budget eliminates the state's housing appeals board, a recently created entity designed to speed up developers' appeals of adverse zoning and planning board rulings, and it defunds the Housing Champion Designation and Grant Program, which gives towns and cities grants and special benefits if they voluntarily overhaul their zoning to encourage more housing.
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