Housing was on the ballot on Election Day in a number of states and cities across the country, as some citizens decided whether to spend money to build homes or help residents buy them and others cast ballots to amend how homeowners pay property taxes.
Here are six notable ballot measures:
- North Dakota property taxes: About 63% of voters turned down a proposal to radically overhaul how local governments are funded. Instead of homeowners paying taxes based on the assessed value of their property to fund services such as public schools, police and road maintenance, the referendum called for the state to allocate money to cities and towns for those purposes. The amount of money had to be no less than the amount of property tax collected this year. Local governments would still be able to tax people’s property to pay for issuing bonds.
- Arizona nuisances: A majority of those who voted in the state, 58%, backed a measure to allow property owners to apply for a tax refund when local governments fail to enforce laws preventing nuisances. Examples of nuisances include illegal camping and drinking alcohol or urinating in public, issues often associated with homeless encampments. Homeowners would be required to present documented evidence of costs they incurred to address the problem. Supporters of the measure said cities may have more incentive to address these sorts of nuisances if they run the risk of losing property tax revenue to unhappy landowners. But opponents said the measure puts cities’ ability to pay for basic services at risk and unfairly blames people for lacking places to live.
- Charlotte, North Carolina, housing: Voters in the Queen City agreed to raise their property taxes to pay for a $100 million housing bond focused on low- and moderate-income housing. Of that amount, $35 million is set to be used for building rental housing and to improve residents’ homeownership opportunities. A typical homeowner with a house that has a $400,000 value will see an annual tax increase of $10, according to one analysis. Of those who voted, 64% backed the measure; a majority also approved a $62 million bond for improvements such as bicycle lanes and sidewalks in underserved city neighborhoods.
- Denver housing: A $100 million bond did not get voters’ backing in Colorado’s capital. They were asked to increase the sales tax by five cents for every $10 of spending, excluding essential purchases like groceries and gas, to pay for affordable housing, including down payment aid for low- and moderate-income homebuyers. City officials said the funding could generate 40,000 affordable homes over the next decade, but opponents said the sales tax is regressive because the burden falls more heavily on people with lower incomes. The measure fell short, with 48% support.
- Rhode Island housing: With a 66% approval, Ocean State voters gave their blessing to the state spending $120 million on affordable housing, including $20 million for homeownership. According to the state’s guide to this year’s ballot measures, Question 3 called for new housing using this money to begin construction by 2026.
- Florida homestead exemption: Enough Sunshine State voters, 66% of those who cast ballots, said yes to Amendment 5 to surpass the 60% threshold for a constitutional amendment to succeed. This measure said that property tax exemptions for homeowners should be adjusted annually for inflation. Owners currently are entitled to an exemption on the first $25,000 of a house’s assessed value, meaning the owner does not pay taxes on that portion of the value. There’s also an exemption on the value between $50,000 and $75,000, except for taxes for education, and that’s where the inflation adjustment would apply. An analysis of the proposal estimated it would cost the state about $23 million in the 2025 budget year, and reach $111 million per year by 2028.