Today, voters (who didn't vote early or vote by mail, at least) will go to the polls to pick their national, state, and local elected officials and decide a long list of ballot initiatives.
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who → vote → initiatives
Most of the focus of midterm commentary has obviously been on whether Democrats will take the Senate.
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Democrats → take → Senate
Given the limited influence that the federal government has on housing policy, that question doesn't really concern this newsletter that much.
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question → give → newsletter
In several states, however, there are a number of ballot initiatives that would directly impact the price and quantity of housing supplied.
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that → be → housing
In Massachusetts, we have a rare example of zoning reform being put directly to voters in the form of Question 7, which would shrink minimum lot sizes across the state.
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which → have → state
In California, voters will decide whether they want to significantly streamline the state's growth-strangling environmental review law.
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they → decide → law
And in Florida, they'll have a chance to vote for a massive property tax rollback that might shrink the size of government while almost certainly raising home prices for new buyers.
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that → have → buyers
Minimizing Minimum Lot Sizes in Massachusetts
Today, Massachusetts voters will decide Question 7.
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voters → minimize → Question
If approved, the initiative would allow single-family homes to be built on lots as small as 5,000 square feet statewide, provided the lot in question has 50 feet of land bordering a street and is serviced by sewer and water.
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lot → approve → sewer
Shrinking minimum lot sizes has become a focus of YIMBY reformers, who argue that requiring homes to sit on less land will enable builders to build more inherently affordable "starter homes.
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requiring → shrink → homes
That's the pitch from the "yes" campaign, which has billed Question 7 as legalizing starter homes.
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which → bill → homes
"Requiring huge lot sizes to build a single-family home makes houses expensive, reduces construction of new single-family housing, and encourages developers to build giant McMansions to recoup land costs," reads the ballot statement provided by the "yes" campaign.
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statement → require → campaign
By comparison, Texas' 2025 starter home law capped minimum lot sizes at 3,000 square feet.
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law → cap → feet
Idaho's 2026 legislation capped minimum lot sizes at 1,500 square feet.
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legislation → cap → feet
On the other hand, both Texas and Idaho's reforms apply only to new subdivisions in larger communities.
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reforms → apply → communities
Massachusetts' law would apply to existing residential land statewide.
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law → apply → land
In other words, it's a more modest reform applied to more properties.
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it → apply → properties
In a state known for large lot sizes, a 5,000 square foot cap would be a significant reduction.
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cap → know → sizes
As Americans for Prosperity's Illana Blumsack notes in a recent piece on Question 7, 56 percent of land zoned for single-family use in Massachusetts has a minimum lot size of at least one acre (or 43,560 square feet).
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percent → note → acre
The campaign estimates that between 2,200 and 5,700 additional homes would be built each year in the state if Question 7 passes.
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Question → estimate → state
Massachusetts built just under 12,500 homes in 2025, per the U.S. Census Bureau's building permit tracker.
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Massachusetts → build → tracker
Whether that's something Massachusetts voters actually want remains to be seen.
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voters → want → ?
In recent years, the state's Legislature has taken a few stabs at getting home production up.
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production → take → stabs
In 2021, it passed the MBTA Communities Law, which requires localities serviced by transit to create new zoning districts in which apartments are permitted.
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apartments → pass → which
In 2024, the Legislature also approved a sprawling housing law that included a policy allowing accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on all lots where single-family housing is already allowed.
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housing → approve → lots
Both policies have faced considerable local pushback.
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policies → face → pushback
The state's attorney general has repeatedly had to sue communities to enforce the MBTA Communities Law.
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general → have → Law
Even some (relatively) pro-housing jurisdictions are balking at what they consider overly aggressive implementation of the ADU law.
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they → balk → law
At the same time, zoning reformers view the Legislature's actions thus far as much too limited to actually end the state's housing crisis.
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reformers → view → crisis
Taking the issue directly to voters offers the chance to route around lawmakers' small-c conservatism on the issue.
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Taking → take → issue
"We have a legislature that, in my opinion, has not gotten things to the finish line on zoning reform," Andrew Mikula, one of the lead organizers behind the initiative, told Reason back in January.
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Mikula → have → January
Rarely have questions of zoning reform been put directly to voters.
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questions → put → voters
The fate of Question 7 will provide a good test case of whether the people are more pro-housing than their elected representatives.
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people → provide → representatives
The two most recent polls of state voters don't provide much guidance on this latter question.
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polls → provide → question
The Suffolk University and Boston Globe poll from mid-October had support for Question 7 evenly split, with 41 percent of respondents supporting it, 41 percent opposing, and 16 percent undecided.
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percent → have → it
Another survey conducted around the same time by the University of Massachusetts Lowell and YouGov found 53 percent of respondents supporting Question 7, 31 percent opposing it, and 16 percent again undecided.
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percent → conduct → it
I guess we'll have to wait until later tonight to find out what voters actually want.
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voters → guess → what
The End of CEQA as We Know It?
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We → know → It
On the other side of the country, we have another case of land use reform questions normally dealt with by the legislature being put directly to voters.
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we → have → voters
The California ballot includes Proposition 45, which would dramatically reform the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
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which → include → Act
…and 54 more, not listed.
The Aporia
