Dignitaries from the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund and the City of Portsmouth, along with an array of representatives from state and federal offices and housing agencies, gathered at Woodbury Cooperative on June 20, 2023 to celebrate the completion of a project that enhanced a run-down city neighborhood and added five new affordable homes to the community.
The project improved the small manufactured-home cooperative in several ways, including installing five new homes where abandoned buildings had stood, replacing its aging water and sewer systems, upgrading its electrical system, expanding its access road to accommodate emergency vehicles, and lowering residents’ lot rents.
“This is unbelievable. It really is,” said co-op secretary Kathy Ireland during the June 20th ribbon cutting. “Making affordable living in Portsmouth, which is hard to do. This will help single moms, blue-collar workers, firefighters, and Market Basket workers …”
“It’s truly amazing that donors helped us, not even knowing who we were. I was born and raised in Portsmouth, and it means a lot to me to stay here, in my community, in my neighborhood,” she said.
The residents of Woodbury Cooperative purchased their 12-home park in 2017, permanently protecting their homes from being sold or demolished. Since then, Woodbury’s Board of Directors has worked with the Community Loan Fund to assess their community’s property needs, plan improvements, and gain city approvals. Woodbury is Portsmouth’s only resident-owned community (ROC).
“Pretty remarkable day,” smiled Portsmouth Mayor Deaglan McEachern. “The thing about this place here is that more folks can stay in Portsmouth, and that’s really the backbone of this city.”
“All of the obstacles were overcome because so many people saw the vision of what this could be. And what it is, is a blueprint of a lot more we can do. So, I’m really excited,” he said.
The five new homes are priced at $150,000 to $160,000, with combined mortgage and lot rent payments well below the cost for similarly sized apartments. A vacant lot in the cooperative is ready to accommodate a sixth new home.
Homebuyers with limited incomes receive preference through the application process, said Alan Blake of ROC-NH, the Community Loan Fund’s manufactured-home-park program. Blake worked with the cooperative throughout the project.
Photo gallery from the ribbon-cutting
“For example, if there are identical competing offers, the lowest-income bidder would prevail,” he said. Also, the homes can’t be rented or used as a secondary residence.
More than $1.5 million was raised for the site improvements and necessary infrastructure upgrades through a collaboration of the Community Loan Fund, the City of Portsmouth Community Development Block Grant Program, U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, InvestNH Demolition Grant Program, and Senator Jeanne Shaheen's Congressionally Directed Spending.
Read Seacoastonline's coverage of the project (paywall).
Other speakers at the ribbon-cutting included Tara Reardon and Steve Saltzman of the Community Loan Fund, Julie Jussif from New Hampshire Housing Finance Authority, Madison Lightfoot from U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen's office, Victoria Laracy from Congressman Chris Pappas' office, Greg Carson, NH Field Office Director for HUD, and Katelyn Ferguson, a representative from N.H. Senator Rebecca Perkins Kwoka’s office.
