Event Recap: Portsmouth Candidates Housing Forum
- Seacoast WHC
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
On October 14, 2025, the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast partnered with Progress Portsmouth for a Candidates Housing Forum. With less than a month until municipal elections in Portsmouth, 12 of 15 candidates for City Council gathered at the Portsmouth Public Library. The candidates were met with a full house of engaged Portsmouth residents, eager to hear visions for the future of one of the city’s most pressing issues: housing.
The conversation was opened by Gerald Duffy, co-founder of Progress Portsmouth, a coalition focused on encouraging civic engagement in Portsmouth and advocating for affordable housing. Duffy gave a brief presentation on the current state of housing in Portsmouth, based on the results of a housing needs study performed by RKG Associates in 2022. With an emphasis on rentals—acknowledging that homeownership is so out of reach, it isn’t worth discussing much—the presentation highlighted the number of units necessary to build to reach healthy housing levels, and that the majority must be affordable.
With the stage set, WHC’s Executive Director Emmy Ham took to the podium to moderate the forum and facilitate a Q&A with the candidates. To start, each candidate introduced themselves and shared a bit about their housing story: whether they rented or owned, when they moved into their current home, and what living in Portsmouth meant to them.
Interestingly, every candidate mentioned something about “luck” that had brought them to Portsmouth before housing costs rose to current levels and “fortune” to have been in the right place at the right time. Many, though, acknowledged that their children or grandchildren would not possibly fall into the same luck and would be unable to live in Portsmouth if conditions didn’t change.
Despite unanimous agreement that Portsmouth is experiencing a housing crisis, the candidates offered a range of different strategies for addressing it.
The following questions posed to each candidate asked whether the housing crisis is real in Portsmouth and if so, what could be done? Despite unanimous agreement that Portsmouth is experiencing a housing crisis, the candidates offered a range of different strategies for addressing it. Some candidates discussed infrastructure improvements, impact fees, and calling on neighboring municipalities for partnership opportunities. Others suggested the encouragement of higher density, the promotion of mixed-use and neighborhood development, and the preservation of rural areas by utilizing gateway zoning.
The candidates were also asked to comment on the most recent zoning and regulatory changes passed by the City Council. Many of the incumbent councilors expressed pride in these accomplishments, which include updating zoning language and streamlining permit review. Challenger candidates also applauded these efforts, but hesitation was raised about the true impact of new city policies like co-living.
Running short on time, audience members were given the opportunity to ask questions to the candidates to spark conversation but without receiving immediate responses.
They also had the option of writing on index cards with questions to be collected and shared with the candidates. The full list of these questions can be found here.
The forum concluded with the opportunity for each candidate to give their “final pitch” for their election. Though expressed in numerous ways, the main sentiment of each remark was a love for Portsmouth and a commitment to advancing housing opportunity and affordability throughout the city.
Thank you to all the Portsmouth residents and Council candidates that attended this event and engaged wholeheartedly in the housing conversation. Thank you to the Portsmouth Public Library staff for assisting in the organization and logistics of the forum. And a special thank you to Gerry Duffy and Progress Portsmouth for planning events like these and encouraging open dialogues with local voices.
Portsmouth's municipal election is on Tuesday, November 4, 2025.
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