By Alan Forbes, guest columnist
It seems that there is never-ending talk about Portsmouth’s lack of workforce and affordable housing; we are told that this “crisis” can only be solved if the City spends more and more money in the pursuit of some undefined and ever-elusive housing nirvana.
But what do these terms even mean? Workforce and affordable housing are not the same thing. Households earning up to 80% of AMI (area median income) are eligible to live in Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) properties. This is an example of “affordable” housing.
“Workforce housing” is the next step up from affordable housing (in terms of resident income) and the term is used to indicate a program targeted at households that earn too much to qualify for affordable housing subsidies. Workforce housing programs are commonly intended for households with incomes between 80% and 120% of AMI. In other words, you can earn what most people earn (100% of the median income) and yet still qualify for workforce housing.
According to the US census bureau, the median income for Portsmouth is $91,915. This means that someone could earn slightly more than $100,000 per year and still qualify for “workforce” housing in Portsmouth. Does that seem fair?
Who exactly is the “workforce” entitled to such housing? When most people think about workforce housing, they assume the term refers to people who work in the area that is subsidizing their living expenses. Recent completion of the Ruth Griffin place, developed in a PRIME location in the middle of downtown Portsmouth on Court Street, for example, offers very nice apartments starting at $1,027/month. You can walk out your front door and be downtown a few minutes later. It’s only a few blocks to the Music Hall, for example. That’s an amazing deal if you can get it, since the cost is less than half of market price, and you could qualify for it it even if you earn $100K.
Most good-hearted people assume that the residents who live there do, in fact, walk to their waiter/waitress jobs downtown but in fact there is NO requirement to work in Portsmouth to benefit from Portsmouth’s workforce housing. A resident who works remotely for a company based in another state is also considered “workforce”.
The “are you qualified” wizard at the Ruth Griffin Place did not ask me what kind of artist I was, or where in Portsmouth I worked. The only qualifier is income.
Not surprisingly, there is HUGE demand for such living arrangements. OF COURSE. Who wouldn’t prefer to live in Portsmouth over Rochester or North Berwick (selected merely as examples with no disrespect intended) if the cost were the same? Portsmouth is a beautiful, waterfront city with great bars, restaurants, events, and vibe. Demand to live here will NEVER be satisfied because so few places are comparable and there is only so much downtown to go around.
Even though such demand can never be satisfied, should we try anyway? In other words, should a lucky few hundred waiters, bartenders, hostesses, and hourly workers be ENTITLED to subsidized living in the heart of the city while others can only dream of living in such a location? According to politicians like Mayor Deaglan, the answer to that question is YES! and the solution is for the taxpayers of Portsmouth to pay to build ever more affordable housing.
The logic, apparently, is that because there is more demand for workforce housing than supply, we have a CRISIS. By this logic, if there is “demand” for affordable housing– and there ALWAYS will be—then the City has an ever-increasing obligation to provide it for them.
Portsmouth Housing Authority recently proposed that the City turn over FIVE ACRES at the former Sherburne School so they can build an additional 160 units of affordable housing. Do you have any idea how much FIVE acres of land in Portsmouth is worth?
https://www.wmur.com/article/portsmouth-former-school-affordable-housing/42679631
You might wonder how much housing the Portsmouth Housing Authority (PHA) has already provided to Portsmouth residents, courtesy of local taxpayers, and is it enough? According to PHA’s 2023 Annual Report, PHA has a staff of 37 people managing “a complex organization, providing stewardship of a $100 million real estate portfolio consisting of 52 separate buildings housing over 1,000 residents of Portsmouth.”
Can you believe that $100 million worth of subsidized housing is not enough, and now they want another FIVE acres from the taxpayers to build ever more? What will come after that? Mayor Deaglan even proposed that the McIntyre building be redeveloped into workforce housing but fortunately the GSA didn’t go for that idea. Fawning sycophants gushed on Facebook at how this will help support “diversity” and “the artist community” but downtown workforce housing does neither of these things. It is illegal to discriminate based on race in hiring, school admissions, and workforce housing so diversity of income is the only legal metric, and I’m still waiting for the first annual “Ruth Griffin Workforce Housing Artist Exhibition” to see the amazing work of the artists we are already subsidizing.
Workforce housing is a scam, pure and simple, paid for by the taxpayers. Portsmouth has provided $100 MM in housing already. I think that’s more than enough.
