Draft plan to address Portsmouth’s housing crisis:
have a say.
PERMANENTLY AFFORDABLE WORKFORCE HOUSING — LIKE
RUTH LEWIN GRIFFIN PLACE ON COURT STREET
Where the plan stands
The city’s first Housing Action Plan is a draft. The Housing Committee holds two public input sessions — Sept 10 at City Hall or on Zoom, Sept 23 at the Public Library, both 5:30 pm — then recommends the plan to the City Council.
Adopt the plan. Add 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. 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. The plan should make that standing practice and name the first site.
Say this — at the mic, or in the Council’s contact form
“I support the Housing Action Plan and ask for one addition before it’s adopted. Make it the city’s standing practice to build permanently affordable workforce housing on land the city already owns — the approach chosen for the Sherburne School — and name the first site.”
For the contact form, add: Please include this comment in the public record.
Sept 10 opens with the consultant’s presentation; public comment follows. 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.
What’s in the plan
Nineteen actions — mostly changes to zoning that make it easier to build, plus tax incentives and a housing fund. Most of it is worth doing. Start with the one-page version; open the explorer if you want every action, what it does, and how it scores.
The 19 actions in plain English · one page (PDF)
Open the Housing Action Plan Explorer — the 19 actions, scored
Also: the detailed scorecard (PDF) · the city’s full staff draft (PDF)
What’s missing
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 doesn’t yet make that standing practice.
What to ask for
Make it the city’s standing practice to build permanently affordable workforce housing on land the city already owns — and name the first site.
The new study backs this up
A brand-new study — the city’s own Workforce Housing Evaluation, released with the September 10 meeting packet — finds the incentives on the books are unlikely to produce workforce homes on their own. The reason is simple math. An apartment a working family can afford brings in less rent than it costs to build and run — each one comes up roughly $22,000 to $46,000 short. That shortfall is about what the land under it costs. When the city contributes land it already owns, the gap closes — the homes stay affordable for good, and property taxes are not the source.
Close readers: the study and the plan, side by side (PDF) · the full study, on the city’s site (PDF)
What can I do? Have a say — this month decides it.
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 Committee, and it goes into the public record with your name and address. If you can, come to a session too — Sept 10 at City Hall or on Zoom, Sept 23 at the Public Library, both 5:30 pm. You don’t have to give a speech; just being there counts, and the same sentences work at the mic. 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.
“I support the Housing Action Plan and ask for one addition before it’s adopted. Make it the city’s standing practice to build permanently affordable workforce housing on land the city already owns — the approach chosen for the Sherburne School — and name the first site.”
For the contact form, add: Please include this comment in the public record.
Sources: RKG Associates, Workforce Housing Evaluation for the City of Portsmouth (Aug. 31, 2025); City of Portsmouth draft Housing Action Plan (July 2026). Created with AI assistance in research and information design, with human editorial control.
When you have more time
The deep end: interactive tools, the monthly Housing Snapshot, plain-language guides, and the research behind everything above. It'll be here after the hearings, too.
Three homes where there was one.
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Read the ADU guide →
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