portsmouthNH

Portsmouth is for Everyone

Anyone who grows up, works in, or moves to Portsmouth should be able to find a home here.

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We have a housing crisis

Our service workers and young families are moving out, and retirees are struggling to get by

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<A story about a Portsmouth community member>

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<Another story about a Portsmouth community member>

Housing costs are out of control because demand is outpacing the supply allowed by 1970's zoning

We are fortunate to live in a very desirable city. Our privileged location, growing employers, strong city services, and many cultural amenities are attracting new residents from all over the world.
 
Our housing prices are going up because these new residents can outbid our service workers and young families for our very limited supply of housing. Short of making our city undesirable for everyone, there is no moral or legal path to stopping people from moving here.
 
The problem is that our zoning laws limit how much new housing can be built, based on the much lower demand we had decades ago. It's time to catch up with the missing housing our city needs to be affordable again.
 
 
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Portsmouth has a rich heritage of "Missing Middle" housing

Lincoln Street [TODO: update photo]
Illegal where it stands under current zoning
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Bow Street [TODO: update photo]
Illegal to build anywhere in Portsmouth today
Screenshot 2025-01-28 at 5.54.22 PM
 

It's time for bold solutions

Progress Portsmouth advocates for fact-based, practical solutions that are working in communities across America.

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Streamline By-Right ADUs

Accessory Dwelling Units provide cost-effective, flexible homes for multi-generational families and renters in existing neighborhoods—if permitting is simple and predictable.

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Legalize "Missing Middle"

Row-homes, duplexes and small apartments make better use of limited urban land, offering more attainable homeownership options and walkable, community-focused neighborhoods.

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Welcome Affordable Projects

Cutting red tape for subsidized developments ensures more people can access secure housing faster, reducing homelessness and strengthening neighborhoods.

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Commercial-to-Residential

Unlocking the transformation of under-used commercial lots into homes maximizes existing infrastructure, meets rising housing demand, and revitalizes local communities.

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Density Bonuses

Incentivizing denser development directs resources to build more affordable units, creating balanced, inclusive communities for all income levels.

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Employer Housing Partnerships

Partner with major, growing local employers to  plan and meet new housing demand, while minimizing transportation impacts via dense, nearby developments. 

Housing Myths

MYTH: Building new housing makes prices go up, not down.

FACT: If that was true, South End would be cheaper than Dover. In the absence of new housing, old housing gets gut-remodeled into luxury homes, which is what we're seeing all around Portsmouth today. 

MYTH: New housing is good for developers, and bad for everyone else

FACT: The biggest beneficiaries of new housing are the workers and families who get to live there, and all the lives of the people they touch around them.

 
MYTH: We need to stop out-of-staters from moving here.

FACT: Wrong country. We're in America, where people don't need government permission to move somewhere.

MYTH: If we allow new housing, it will kill our city's culture and charm.

FACT: Becoming an exclusive community for the very wealthy is what kills culture and charm. 

MYTH: We don't have the infrastructure for new residents.

FACT: We can build new infrastructure for our future needs, just like past residents built the infrastructure that we enjoy.

MYTH: New residents will just create more traffic.

FACT: One of our primary draws is our walkable, pre-car downtown. People want to live in Portsmouth so they can drive less.

MYTH: Developers just want to build luxury condos.

Developers—and their financial partners—run a simple business: they look for good risk-adjusted returns, and avoid everything else. Given how expensive land, construction, and permitting costs are in Portsmouth, the only projects that "pencil" today are in the luxury segment. This can be fixed! By relaxing controls on density and height, and removing the need for risky variance requests, projects at all income levels can pencil again. This is not a theory. It's how Portsmouth got our beloved, walkable downtown.

MYTH: Pro-housing groups are fronts for rich developers.

Developers focus on their own projects and holdings, not on expanding the competition. We are residents and renters, young and old, from every political persuasion, simply looking to fix the biggest problem  affecting our community. 

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