Nearly equal shares of Boston voters strongly support ways to fix the region’s housing crisis that many developers might say are at cross-purposes: rent control and promoting more housing development.
Fifty-nine percent of the 552 Boston voters polled by the MassINC Polling Group for WBUR, the Dorchester Reporter and The Boston Foundation backed imposing rent control in the city “to prevent landlords from raising rents too much,” while the same share backed allowing the construction of more multifamily housing in Boston. Another 17 percent somewhat supported the former and 23 percent somewhat supported the latter.
Over half (52 percent) of respondents also strongly backed the idea of building more housing near the city’s MBTA stations, with another 27 percent somewhat supporting the idea.
The fourth housing production idea polled – reducing parking spaces at developments – received an uneven reaction, with only 23 percent strongly supporting it, 18 percent somewhat supporting it, 19 percent somewhat opposing it and 36 percent strongly opposing it.
To add to these potentially confusing signals from voters as Boston’s mayoral race officially gets underway, 4 in 10 respondents also said they thought there was “too much development of new housing” in Boston, while 24 percent thought there was “too little” and 26 percent thought there was “the right amount.”
The poll also showed housing costs were a leading concern for city voters, coming second only to the COVID-19 pandemic, with residents in West Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and Mission Hill reporting the most concern. Most respondents – 71 percent – reported housing was unaffordable for them, with 77 percent of Black respondents and 75 percent of Hispanic respondents reporting their housing was unaffordable compared to 68 percent of white respondents.
Housing and development are poised to be major issues in the city’s fall mayoral election, with candidates offering ideas including a proposal from at-large City Councilor Michelle Wu to have the city use its bonding authority to help fund affordable housing construction to rental aid and other programs suggested by District 4 City Councilor Andrea Campbell.