Housing for Me, but not for Thee: Values-Based Motivations of Opposition to Local Housing

A key barrier to ensuring the growth of the housing supply is local opposition to development, often called NIMBYism (Not In My Back Yard). We use pre-registered studies on representative samples of Canadians and Americans to explore the values-based correlates of opposition to local housing development and the values-based conditionality of the effects of certain housing characteristics (i.e. affordable housing) on housing opposition. We find that nativism, racial resentment, and moral traditionalism are generally associated with more negativity towards local housing development with some modest differences between countries and outcome measures. Nativism is connected to opposition to development in Canada, while racial resentment stands in its place in the United States. Traditionalism is associated with opposition to development in both countries. Nativism appears to be the most important correlate of negative beliefs about the consequences of new housing, such as harming neighbourhood character. The connection between housing characteristics and development opposition is also conditional on values. Respondents are generally more supportive of affordable over market-rate housing, but this is only true among those with low racial resentment, traditionalism, nativism, and free-market attitudes, and high levels of egalitarianism. Our findings highlight the importance of values in shaping attitudes towards new housing.