How restrictive zoning laws have exacerbated Portsmouth’s housing crunch

Under current rules, only single-family homes can be built on more than 75% of zoned residential areas

By: Paul Cuno-Booth

Outlets: Granite State News Collaborative

Published: October 14, 2026

Words: 1,057

Last Updated: 3 weeks, 4 days ago

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South of Portsmouth’s downtown, on tree-lined Lincoln Avenue, is a stately row of four townhouses built in 1876. It’s the kind of old building that gives historic New England neighborhoods their charm: bay windows, elegant cornices, a row of brick chimneys, antique lamps in doorframes.

And it probably would be illegal to build today.

It’s a small example of what housing experts and advocates say is a bigger problem: restrictive zoning laws that have contributed …

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