March 2026 Media Scan (Feb 10–Mar 6)
Tracking what's covered, what's missing, and what it means for housing action in Portsmouth.
🔒 SeacoastOnline stories are paywalled. Summaries based on headlines, URL slugs, and available preview text.
First local news piece to examine specific policy tools following the Feb 19 Housing Action Plan vote. The city is weighing a property tax incentive — likely an abatement or current-use mechanism — to reduce the cost barrier for developers building new housing. Details behind paywall, but the frame is notable: the story treats a supply-side fiscal tool as a live policy option, not a hypothetical. Worth watching whether this connects to the Housing Action Plan implementation process or is a parallel track from City Manager Conard's office. A tax incentive tied to affordability requirements would be meaningfully different from a market-rate stimulus — that distinction hasn't been publicly drawn.
Policy tool Housing Action Plan follow-onColumn making the case that HB 1786 — which would impose a semi-annual assessment on non-primary-residence luxury properties valued over $1 million to fund statewide housing programs — represents Republicans engaging with substantive affordability policy rather than procedural reform. HB 1786 would generate direct revenue for the Affordable Housing Fund, which the Ayotte budget cut from $25M to near zero. The column is notable for the bipartisan framing in an election year. No local outlet has connected HB 1786 to Portsmouth's situation: the city holds Housing Champion status and lost access to those funds; the HAP is being built without that infrastructure.
State legislation OpinionGuest column by Morgan, appearing one week after the Housing Action Plan vote, arguing that hiring outside consultants to address zoning will not solve Portsmouth's housing production problem. Directly relevant context: the Planning Department has signaled it plans to hire a consultant to "modernize" the zoning ordinance — likely following the Utile Master Plan update, expected December 2026. The column's critique aligns with a real risk: a technical zoning modernization that doesn't explicitly incorporate the Housing Action Plan's production targets could undo years of advocacy work. Whether Morgan proposes an alternative approach or simply opposes the consultant model is behind the paywall — but the framing alone puts this issue into the public debate at a strategically useful moment.
Zoning reform OpinionA proposed 72-apartment project at 581 Lafayette Road — the Tour restaurant site, formerly Tuscan Kitchen and Jerry Lewis Cinemas — is on hold. McNabb has suggested co-living as a potential alternative. Co-living is permitted by Conditional Use Permit in Gateway districts under Section 10.815 of the Zoning Ordinance, so the use itself is not the barrier at 581 Lafayette. The problem is parking. The ordinance waives parking entirely for co-living facilities within 600 feet of a public parking garage — but requires 1 space per every 4 units otherwise. There is no public garage near the Route 1 corridor. The Planning Board has discretion under Section 10.815.41 to modify that standard if it finds the modification “will promote design flexibility and overall project quality,” but exercising that discretion on a gateway corridor site is a different ask than waiving parking downtown. The story is less about what the ordinance forbids and more about what the Planning Board is willing to approve — and where it draws the line between flexibility and risk.
On hold Zoning barrierFeature published the day after the Housing Action Plan vote, profiling McNabb’s co-living strategy. Active projects: 1–15 Congress St. (40 units approved) and proposed 55 units at 134 Pleasant St. (former Citizens Bank). McNabb frames co-living as normalizing how workers already live — pooling rent to afford downtown. Published alongside the new Housing Action Plan mandate without connecting the two.
Developer profile Co-living pipelineCoverage of the 9–0 vote to create a Housing Action Plan by July 2026 and hire a Housing Navigator. First mainstream story to use “housing crisis” in connection with a Portsmouth Council vote. Reported the vote but not what the plan must contain, when public hearings occur, or who the Navigator will be.
Local action Housing Action Plan voteGuest column one week before the Feb 17 vote, making the public case for the Housing Action Plan. The headline framing — “not more drift” — directly named the pattern of procedural delay from the prior two years. Contributed to the pre-vote pressure environment. Full arguments behind paywall; byline is Duffy.
Pre-vote advocacy OpinionNH House voted 185–166 to repeal Housing Champions (HB 1196). Gov. Ayotte opposes. Full repeal could claw back $2.6M in unspent grants. Portsmouth holds the designation. No local outlet connected this to the new Housing Action Plan mandate.
State politics Legislative riskNH issued 5,800+ permits in 2025 — highest since 2006. But only ~80% of the five-year production goal needed to stabilize the market by 2040. Portsmouth among top permit-issuing cities. Framed as progress, not a gap analysis.
State data Volume framingHousing affordability cited as central to her campaign. Portsmouth Mayor reportedly weighing a gubernatorial bid. Housing as electoral backdrop — no policy specifics, no connection to Portsmouth’s Housing Action Plan process.
State politics Electoral framingTwo hearings required. Dates not set. No coverage of the process or what residents can actually shape.
Council voted to hire one. Position is open. Timeline and authority: unreported.
The Mar 3 tax relief story raises the right question. The follow-up: does any proposed incentive require affordable units in return, or is it an unattached market-rate stimulus?
Morgan’s column names the problem. The missing story: will the Housing Action Plan’s production targets be written into the consultant RFP before it’s published — and who decides that?
No story has asked: do co-living units at market rates address the affordability problem the Housing Action Plan is meant to solve? The 20% set-aside at 581 Lafayette deserves scrutiny as a potential model.
$1M+ seacoast median home price. $2,300–$3,500/mo Portsmouth rents. Who is leaving? No stories.
Three new pieces this week — two columns, one news story — show the policy debate intensifying in print. Morgan’s zoning column and the HB 1786 piece are both substantive. But opinion pages don’t create accountability the way sustained news coverage does.
The critical questions — what the Housing Action Plan will require, who shapes it, when the public weighs in, whether the tax incentive has affordability conditions, whether the zoning consultant RFP reflects Housing Action Plan priorities — are still waiting for a reporter to ask them.
The question is no longer “will Portsmouth act?” It’s “who’s watching to make sure the action matches the scale of the problem?”