Portsmouth adopted a housing plan.
Now it has to get built.

Adopted September 28 after months of public pressure. Nineteen actions, some due within six months — and so far no posted schedule, no committee meeting, and no funding line.

It passed. Now fund the one thing that makes it last.

Most of the plan’s 19 actions make it easier or cheaper to build. Only two keep a home affordable over time, and adoption did not change that count. Portsmouth already knows how: Ruth Lewin Griffin Place on Court Street is what it looks like — the waiting list runs into the hundreds — and the approach the city chose for the Sherburne School is how it gets built: city land, a nonprofit builder, affordability that doesn’t expire. Make that standing practice, put it in the Capital Improvement Plan, and name the first site.

Say this — in the Council’s contact form, or at the mic

The Capital Improvement Plan is where the city commits capital spending; an action with no funding line is an intention. The form reaches all nine councilors — three of them sit on the Committee — and goes into the Council’s public record when it includes your name and address. If you rent your home, say so: the plan has no other way of hearing from you.

Does this produce a home that is still affordable in twenty years?

Only 2 of the plan’s 19 actions pass that test — not nearly enough to make a difference. Tax breaks expire, and the market reprices everything else at resale. Ruth Lewin Griffin Place on Court Street shows what lasting affordability looks like; the approach the city chose for the Sherburne School shows how to produce it: city-owned land, a nonprofit builder, and a permanent covenant. The plan, adopted September 28, still doesn’t make that standing practice.

Make it the city’s standing practice to build permanently affordable workforce housing on land the city already owns — fund it in the Capital Improvement Plan, and name the first site.

What can I do? The plan passed. Now it has to get funded.

Two minutes is enough. Paste the sentences below into the Council’s contact form — one message reaches all nine councilors, three of whom sit on the Housing Committee, and it goes into the public record with your name and address. The Council adopted the plan on September 28. What it has not done is put money or a date behind it: the Capital Improvement Plan is where the city actually commits capital spending, and it goes to a joint Council and Planning Board work session on November 12 before adoption on December 7. An action with no funding line is an intention. If you rent your home, as half of Portsmouth does, say so — you’re the main beneficiary of this work, and the plan has no other way of hearing from you.

A household earning exactly the area median cannot afford the typical one-bedroom in Portsmouth today. On these figures a studio is the largest home that still fits.

Three homes where there was one.

While the big decisions get made at City Hall, ADUs and second units are by right on your street now. We condensed 40 pages of city rules into one guide.