Portsmouth council hears housing committee report, public comments and approves several housing and land actions; asks staff to study resident parking

At its April 7 meeting the Portsmouth City Council received a report from the mayor's Blue Ribbon Housing Committee, heard multiple public comments urging more affordable housing in the city, authorized a new below‑market rate housing trust, approved several land‑use and administrative items and asked staff to report back on the feasibility of a citywide resident parking program.

Blue Ribbon Housing Committee member Mary Loan briefed the council on its year‑long review of city‑owned lots as potential sites for below‑market housing. Loan said the committee narrowed an initial long list of city parcels to a short list of roughly seven potentially buildable sites and recommended examining the City Hall lower parking lot and 25 Granite Street as priorities for further feasibility analysis. "There's an opportunity to turn a parking lot, car storage, into homes," Loan said, adding the committee considered walkability, proximity to services and site constraints such as wetlands.

During public comment, Gerald Duffy and other residents described personal experiences navigating Portsmouth's housing costs and urged the council to act quickly to expand permanently affordable units for working families…