It is the top issue for New Hampshire voters, but New Hampshire lawmakers are in a big fight over what to do about affordable housing.Lawmakers in Concord are debating a bill to overhaul local housing and zoning regulations."This bill will do more, in my opinion, to bring down the cost of housing in our state than any other single bill we will deal with," said state Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester.Murphy was making the case for his bill, Senate Bill 84, which would cap maximum lot sizes for single-family residential homes. The legislation includes accommodations for infrastructure and environmental concerns, while aiming to increase housing density and affordability.>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<"The data point that supports where New Hampshire has fallen behind on this is that over the last decade, housing prices across the country, in aggregate, have gone up 26%. In New Hampshire, they have gone up 60%," said Mike Skelton, of the Business & Industry Association of New Hampshire.The bill has support and momentum, having passed the Senate in March, but there is significant opposition."The legislation places the burden of fixing market failures on the backs of municipalities, and small towns like mine do not have the infrastructure to absorb this kind of rapid density increase," said Megan Portnoy, of the Canterbury Planning Board.Critics of the bill called it a blatant assault on local control that will result in development that doesn't fit the rural character of New Hampshire towns."We are not a cookie-cutter state," said state Rep. Kristine Perez, R-Londonderry. "We have never been a cookie-cutter state."Realtors rejected the idea that the legislation tramples over local government."If you read the text of the bill, it still allows for, I believe, 49% of land zoned residential in a community to have the rural characteristics and all those other things that the opponents of the bill have caution with," said Chris Norwood, of the New Hampshire Association of Realtors.A unique aspect of the bill is that it completely scrambles partisan lines, making its fate difficult to predict. But some lawmakers said the voters want them to take action."Housing is the No. 1 issue, and that is transcending across all party lines," said state Rep. Joe Alexander, R-Goffstown.