PORTSMOUTH – The Portsmouth NH City Council voted to accept the recommendations of the Housing Blue Ribbon Committee and the City Trustees of Trust Funds to establish a Below Market Rate Housing Trust Fund. The Trust will support the City Council’s goal to enhance the supply of housing choices, specifically the supply of below market rate housing options and will be overseen by the Trustees of the Trust Funds.
Formed by the City Council in 2024, the Housing Blue Ribbon Committee’s mission is to assist the Council in addressing the goals of the City of Portsmouth as expressed in its Master Plan. These goals include encouraging walkability, mixed-use development, and the adaptation of housing stock to accommodate the changing demographics and needs of the City’s workforce.
The Committee worked with the City’s Legal Department and Trustees of the Trust Funds to craft the language of the Trust so that it would be flexible while accomplishing the objective of adding below market rate housing units to the City. The Trustees of Trust Funds oversee all of the City’s trust fund assets, invest and manage these funds for long-term growth, and provide for the proper disbursement of each fund according to its requirements.
The Below Market Rate Housing Trust Fund will receive funds from donations, grants, and the inaugural contributions of $250,000 each from the City and SoBow Square, LLC. The funds will be used by the City to initiate and facilitate activities in partnership with public, nonprofit, and private housing developers in support of projects and initiatives for below market rate housing. The terms of the Trust define below market rate as “affordable to those households earning no more than 100 percent of the average median income.”
The Below Market Rate Housing Trust Fund may be used for activities related to the creation and maintenance of below market rate housing, such as, but not limited to, the following:
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- Assisting the City in acquiring land
- Conducting community outreach and engagement
- Funding studies, analysis, planning, and consultant efforts
- Purchasing and rehabilitating existing housing
- Constructing new housing
- Retaining existing housing
- Managing and administer housing and programs
- Providing subsidies for the creation of housing
For more information and instructions on how to donate to the Trust Fund, visit:
portsnh.co/trustees.
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