A clear majority of New Jersey residents support building more housing. That’s the potentially surprising conclusion of a recent poll, which aimed to get a sense of how New Jerseyans view new home construction.
When new homes are proposed, neighbors often protest that they will ruin their quality of life. This has happened regularly in Princeton, where multiple objector groups have sued the town or the Planning Board to try to block or downsize housing projects in their neighborhoods. But according to the poll, 60% of New Jerseyans think the state should prioritize building more homes. And 75% of people agree that New Jersey does not have enough homes that are affordable for average people to buy or rent.
When it comes to new development, a relatively small proportion of people (31%) agreed with the statement, “It’s more important to keep the look and feel of the community consistent with the desires of the people who already live there.” A much larger group expressed support for a range of different housing types, which could accommodate residents at all stages of their life.
The poll was conducted by the independent group, Yougov, on behalf of the “Great Homes And Neighborhoods For All” initiative. Matt Mleczko, the President and founder of local advocacy group ‘Princeton GROWS‘, is also involved with “Great Homes and Neighborhoods for All”. He commented,
“These survey results validate what led to the creation of Princeton GROWS in the first place: the vast majority of New Jersey residents across a variety of backgrounds support sensible reforms to promote housing affordability and inclusion.”
Mleczko also expressed hope that policymakers would take the results of the poll seriously in making choices about land use.
The full results of the poll are linked below.
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