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Your Concerns Have Been Noted: Constituent Influence and Support for Housing

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  • Rivard, Alexandre

Abstract

Opposition to new housing development is widespread and neighbourhood defenders— proximate residents who mobilize against proposed projects—are a well-documented feature of local planning politics. Yet we know relatively little about how political elites process these place-based claims. Using a conjoint experiment embedded in the 2026 Canadian Municipal Barometer, I examine the extent to which city councilors weight the preferences of constituents based on their proximity to a proposed housing development. The results confirm that councilors are more responsive to proximate con stituents. This proximity effect is amplified by neighbourhood tenure and is stronger for denser development types. Contrary to expectations, neither the councilor’s ideol ogy, density preferences, electoral district type, nor acclamation status conditions this responsiveness—suggesting that localism is a structural feature of local representation rather than an ideological predisposition. Taken together, the findings suggest that place-protective claims find a receptive audience among political elites.

Suggested Citation

  • Rivard, Alexandre, 2026. "Your Concerns Have Been Noted: Constituent Influence and Support for Housing," SocArXiv 8t74r_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:8t74r_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/8t74r_v1
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yonah Slifkin Freemark, 2025. "Politics in affordable housing provision: How partisan control of local councils influences planning choices," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 62(5), pages 891-908, April.
    2. Christopher S. Elmendorf & Clayton Nall & Stan Oklobdzija, 2025. "The Folk Economics of Housing," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 39(3), pages 45-66, Summer.
    3. Fang, Limin & Stewart, Nathan & Tyndall, Justin, 2023. "Homeowner politics and housing supply," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    4. Hankinson, Michael & de Benedictis-Kessner, Justin, 2024. "How self-interest and symbolic politics shape the effectiveness of compensation for nearby housing development," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 44(4), pages 785-808, December.
    5. Miguel Coelho & Sebastian Dellepiane-Avellaneda & Vigyan Ratnoo, 2017. "The political economy of housing in England," New Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(1), pages 31-60, January.
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