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Effective Date:Nov 3, 2026
Voters across the country are deciding a slate of housing and property tax measures today, November 3, from a $25 billion down payment assistance program in California to property tax cuts in Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming, plus affordable housing bonds in Rhode Island, Hawaii, and North Carolina cities.
The measures land as housing affordability sits at the center of voter concerns. In a CNBC All-America Economic Survey earlier this year, voters ages 18 to 34 ranked housing as the most important issue facing the country.
The real estate industry has money on the line in several fights. The California Association of Realtors is among the backers of the down payment measure, while Florida Realtors had given $19.5 million to the campaign behind that state's homestead exemption amendment as of early October, with the National Association of Realtors adding more than $2 million, according to Ballotpedia.
California's Proposition 37 would create a state-run second mortgage program to help buyers purchase newly built homes. The California Housing Finance Agency would run the program and could issue up to $25 billion in bonds to fund it.
Under the measure, the second mortgage could cover up to 17 percent of the sales price, with buyers taking a first mortgage for the rest. Borrowers must have lived in California for at least one year, earn no more than 200 percent of area median income, put down at least 3 percent, and move into the home as their primary residence within 60 days of closing.
Eligible homes are limited to newly built houses, condos, and townhomes where the borrower is the first buyer, priced at no more than 125 percent of the county's conforming loan limit. Loans would be fixed-rate with no prepayment penalty, and lender origination fees would be capped.
The ballot summary says the bonds would be repaid by mortgage payments rather than the state, and the official fiscal impact statement lists no direct state or local costs. Opponents, including the League of Women Voters of California, warn voters would not know the interest rate, loan term, or monthly payment before approving the program. Reform California has argued the measure would make the state one of the biggest mortgage lenders in America overnight.
A September PPIC survey found 61 percent of likely voters in support and 35 percent opposed. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.
A second California measure, Proposition 1, would authorize $11.25 billion in bonds, including $10 billion for state housing programs. Of that, $7.2 billion is reserved for rental housing for low-income households, and $1.25 billion would go to the veteran home loan program.
The Legislative Analyst's Office estimates repaying the housing portion would cost the state $500 million to $600 million a year for about 25 years. A September PPIC poll found 55 percent support.
Florida's Amendment 3 would overhaul parts of the state's property tax system starting January 1, 2027. It would raise the non-school homestead exemption from $25,000 to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then index it to inflation beginning in 2029. The existing $25,000 school exemption would remain.
The amendment would also give newer Florida residents a smaller non-school exemption of up to $50,000 until they reach five years of residency, lower the cap on annual assessment increases for non-homestead property such as rentals and commercial buildings from 10 percent to 5 percent for non-school taxes, and limit what counties and cities can spend property tax revenue on.
Legislative staff estimated the measure would cut local government revenue by $4.6 billion in fiscal year 2027-28 and $8.4 billion in fiscal 2028-29. Governor Ron DeSantis, who called the special session that put it on the ballot, says Florida homeowners need relief. Opponents, including Jacksonville's mayor, the Florida Sheriffs Association, Florida TaxWatch, and the League of Women Voters of Florida, warn of hits to local services.
As a constitutional amendment, it needs 60 percent of the vote. Polling has been mixed: a St. Pete Polls survey in mid-September found 44.9 percent support with a quarter of voters undecided, while an August Sachs Media poll found 63 percent support.
Louisiana voters face several property tax amendments. Amendment 6 would allow an additional exemption of up to $30,000 for homeowners 65 and older who qualify for the state's special assessment level, scaling with age and applying only where local voters separately approve it. Amendment 9 would raise the income limit for that assessment freeze from $100,000 to $150,000. Amendment 1 would let surviving spouses of disabled veterans transfer a property tax exemption to a new home.
Oklahoma's State Question 847 would slow growth in taxable value, cutting the annual assessment cap for homesteads and agricultural land from 3 percent to 1.75 percent and for most other property from 5 percent to 4 percent. For seniors, it replaces an income-limited freeze with tiered limits tied to HUD median income, with no income cap.
Wyoming's Initiative 1, which reached the ballot through a citizen signature drive, would exempt 50 percent of a primary residence's assessed value from property taxes. Governor Mark Gordon opposes it, and the official estimate puts the state's lost revenue at about $92.6 million in fiscal year 2028, not counting local governments. Opposition fundraising, led by the National Education Association, had dwarfed support funding as of late August.
Hawaii's Question 2 would amend the state constitution to let the legislature authorize counties and municipalities to issue RISE bonds, repaid solely by future growth in property tax revenues within designated districts, to fund public improvements. The Hawaii Association of Realtors supports it.
Rhode Island's Question 2 asks voters to approve $120 million in bonds for affordable housing, with at least $25 million set aside for homeownership.
Voters in Charlotte and Raleigh, North Carolina, are also deciding city housing bond measures, extending a run of local housing bond campaigns in fast-growing metros.
Housing measures have appeared on state and local ballots for years, but today's slate stands out for its scale and its split personality. On one side are production and assistance measures, California's pair of bond questions and Rhode Island's housing bond, that would put public borrowing behind housing supply and homebuyer help. On the other are tax relief measures that would constrain the local revenue streams that pay for services, including, in some communities, housing and community development programs themselves.
The juxtaposition captures the political moment. Affordability pressure has pushed housing to the top of voter priority lists, particularly among younger voters, and state leaders are responding with tools aimed at both sides of the ledger: more subsidized supply and lower tax burdens.
The measures also carry real stakes for the affordable housing industry beyond the headline numbers. California's Proposition 1 would replenish state programs that affordable developers routinely layer with federal Low-Income Housing Tax Credits. Rhode Island's Question 2 continues a state bond program that has become a reliable gap source for affordable deals. Local bonds in Charlotte and Raleigh would similarly feed the local subsidy layer that tax credit transactions in those markets depend on.
The paths to today's ballot vary. Florida's Amendment 3 was placed on the ballot by the legislature in a special session called by Governor DeSantis. Wyoming's Initiative 1 qualified through a citizen signature campaign. California's measures went through the legislature and signature process, and the Louisiana and Oklahoma measures were legislative referrals.
Campaign spending has been lopsided in several contests. Florida Realtors' $19.5 million, supplemented by more than $2 million from the National Association of Realtors, has powered the Amendment 3 campaign. In Wyoming, the opposition, funded largely by the National Education Association, had raised about $455,000 as of late August, compared with roughly $11,000 on the support side.
One more wrinkle is timing. Most of the tax measures carry delayed effective dates, January 2027 or later, so even decisive votes tonight would phase in over years. The bond measures, by contrast, could move relatively quickly into program funding cycles, which is where housing agencies and developers will feel them first.
Ballotpedia has tracked each measure's text, campaign finance, and polling through the cycle, and tonight's results will show how far voters are willing to go on both housing investment and property tax relief in the same election.
Results will begin landing after polls close this evening. The California measures need simple majorities, while Florida's amendment faces the higher 60 percent bar, and several southern property tax measures carry phased effective dates in 2027 and 2028.
For the affordable housing industry, Rhode Island's bond question and the North Carolina city measures are the most direct production funding tests, while California's Proposition 1 would steer billions more into state housing programs if it passes. Property tax measures in Florida, Oklahoma, and Wyoming could reshape local revenue capacity that housing and community development programs depend on.
Voters are deciding a wide slate of housing and property tax measures on November 3, including California's $25 billion down payment bond program and $11.25 billion housing bond, Florida's homestead exemption expansion, and property tax limits in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Wyoming.
California's Proposition 37 would let CalHFA issue up to $25 billion in bonds for second mortgages covering up to 17 percent of the price of newly built homes for buyers earning up to 200 percent of area median income.
Florida's Amendment 3 would raise the non-school homestead exemption to $250,000 by 2028 and cap assessment growth on rentals, but legislative staff estimate it would cut local revenues by billions, and it needs 60 percent to pass.
Rhode Island's Question 2 would approve $120 million in affordable housing bonds, Hawaii's Question 2 would enable tax-increment-style RISE bonds, and Charlotte and Raleigh voters are deciding city housing bonds.
Industry money is active in the fights, with Florida Realtors putting $19.5 million behind Amendment 3 and California Realtors backing Proposition 37.
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