Portsmouth Housing Action Plan

Drawing from sidelined knowledge

Many Housing Action Plan items represent direct continuity with findings and recommendations that were documented in the 2017 Master Plan but never acted upon. In cataloguing these connections, the Housing Action Plan serves as an updated, unified implementation source — not a new direction, but a recovery of existing institutional knowledge.

As of v2.9, 26 Housing Action Plan items carry explicit attribution to specific 2017 Master Plan actions in their Sources field. An additional 5 items (Z-37, Z-15, Z-33, P-5, Z-21) have been updated to reflect the draft Portsmouth Master Plan Update (Utile, March 2026), aligning the Housing Action Plan with the Master Plan's Gateway Neighborhood Center study area framework, SRB district staging recommendations, and design guideline reform direction.

The Master Plan update is an opportunity to formally close the loop: adopting a Housing Action Plan that the new Master Plan can reference as its housing implementation framework — an explicit acknowledgment that the Council's decision to create the Housing Action Plan was the right response to the pace problem the Master Plan cycle represents.

2017 Master Plan items now addressed in the Housing Action Plan

• 1.1.1 Reinvestment in underutilized buildings and land — Z-29, I-4, PL-1
• 1.2.1 Mixed-use development / Gateway PD options — Z-1, Z-11, Z-28
• 1.2.2 Route 1 Bypass redevelopment — Z-15
• 2.1.2 Architectural design standards — P-5
• 2.1.3 Residential zoning integrity — Z-8, Z-33, Z-37
• 3.1.2 CDBG rehabilitation programs — I-14
• 3.1.4 Live/work unit zoning — Z-14
• 3.2.1 Streamline affordable housing approvals — P-1, I-3
• 3.2.2 Mixed-income multifamily with parking/height incentives — Z-5, Z-6, Z-7, Z-12, Z-25
• 3.2.3 Funding for special populations — SP-1 through SP-6, PC-9
• 3.2.4 First-time homebuyer education and incentives — I-12, I-21, EO-9
• 3.2.5 Micro-units — Z-20
• 3.2.7 PHA mixed-use redevelopment — PL-4, PC-8
• 4.3.2–4.3.4 Parking study and reform — Z-4, IS-2
• 5.1.1 / 5.1.3 Sustainable building and stormwater — CS-1, CS-2, CS-3
• 5.5.1 Sea level rise in adaptation planning — CS-3

See the Sources field on individual items for full attribution. One 2017 item — 5.4.7 (LEED-ND in neighborhood planning) — has no direct Housing Action Plan analog and may warrant consideration in the Master Plan update.

Risks if the two documents are not explicitly coordinated

• Timeline drift: Housing Action Plan adoption is July 2026; Master Plan completion is early 2027. Without an explicit link, overlapping items risk being deferred pending the Master Plan — delaying actions the Council has already committed to.
• Scope absorption: A zoning modernization consultant scoped to the Master Plan but not the Housing Action Plan may reinvent Housing Action Plan zoning items rather than execute them, adding time and cost.
• Public confusion: Residents will encounter housing recommendations from both documents simultaneously — without guidance on how they relate, who is accountable, or on what timeline.
• Weakened Council commitment: The Housing Action Plan exists precisely because the Master Plan cycle was too slow. Connecting the two documents acknowledges that decision and strengthens both.

Progress Portsmouth has requested that the Master Plan's housing section include explicit language establishing this relationship before the April 22, 2026 Public Open House — the last practical insertion point before the plan enters broad public circulation.