February 2026 Media Scan (Feb 5–19)
Tracking what's covered, what's missing, and what it means for housing action in Portsmouth.
Coverage of the City Council's unanimous vote to create a Housing Action Plan by July 2026 and hire a Housing Navigator. First mainstream coverage directly connecting the council vote to the term "housing crisis."
Local action HAP coverageFormer Executive Councilor runs on affordability platform, citing housing and property tax costs. Notes that Portsmouth Mayor McEachern is also weighing a gubernatorial bid. Housing framed as statewide campaign issue, but no policy specifics from either potential candidate.
State politics Process focusNHHFA public hearing on $18.5M project to create 44 new affordable housing units at 1035 Lafayette Road, owned by Portsmouth Housing Authority. Includes $413K Affordable Housing Fund financing. A concrete, funded pipeline project with a timeline.
Pipeline project Local dataMedian sales price of Seacoast single-family homes exceeded $1 million in January 2026 for the first time — $1,087,500, up 25.5% from January 2025. Originally published by the Portsmouth Herald. Presents the data as a market record, not as a displacement or affordability crisis indicator.
Volume framing Local dataCouncil voted 9-0. But what does the plan need to include? What's the public input process? No follow-up reporting.
The city hired a Housing Navigator. Who are they? What's their mandate? What resources do they have? Unreported.
44 units at Lafayette Road + 127 Sherburne units in pipeline. PHA says we need 1,500 by decade's end. What's the gap?
Median home price just hit $1M. Rents averaging $2,460/mo. Who is leaving? Where are they going? No data, no stories.
Dozens of bills in Concord seeking to roll back 2025 zoning reforms. Housing Champions repeal in Senate Commerce. Local implications unexplored.
Other NH/NE cities with Housing Action Plans — what worked, what didn't? No benchmarking in coverage.
Portsmouth now has a unanimous council mandate for a Housing Action Plan. That's a real shift. But the media is still covering housing as a price-and-politics story — record sales figures and gubernatorial positioning — rather than tracking what the plan will actually contain and whether it matches the scale of the problem.
The 1035 Lafayette Road project shows what funded, concrete pipeline progress looks like: 44 units, $18.5M, a public hearing, a timeline. That's the kind of progress that needs sustained coverage and accountability reporting.
The question is no longer "will Portsmouth act?" — it's "will the action be sufficient?"