A 98-Year Lease at No Cost: A New Hampshire Church Gives Its Land for 44 Workforce Homes and a Survivors’ Centre

• The Episcopal Church of New Hampshire is leasing Christ Church Portsmouth’s land at no cost for 98 years
• The site will hold 44 permanently affordable workforce apartments
• It will also house HAVEN, a service for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, with seven transitional units
• Worship will continue on the site, and completion is expected in late summer 2027

A church in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, is turning its land into homes while keeping its doors open for worship. Episcopal News Service reported on 15 June 2026 that the Episcopal Church of New Hampshire and Christ Church Portsmouth had begun a project at 1035 Lafayette Road that will bring 44 permanently affordable workforce apartments, with one, two and three bedrooms, to church land.

The diocese is providing the land through a no-cost, 98-year lease. Partners include the Portsmouth Housing Authority, the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire and HAVEN, a violence prevention and support organisation that will have its headquarters on the site along with seven transitional housing units for survivors of domestic and sexual violence. An early childhood education centre is also planned. Construction was under way, with completion expected in late summer 2027.

“This is the beginning of a new chapter for this land, for Christ Church, and for the wider Portsmouth community,” said Bishop A. Robert Hirschfeld. The Rev Steve Falci of Christ Church said simply: “Church is people in service of community.” Craig Welch of the Portsmouth Housing Authority said: “Portsmouth needs housing that working people can actually afford.”

The project also involves an act of historical stewardship. JerriAnne Boggis, executive director of the Black Heritage Trail of New Hampshire, said: “No one has looked away from this history. No one has attempted to build over it or pretend it never happened.” Kathy Beebe, HAVEN’s executive director, said that for survivors, “community is connection, and connection is healing.”

The Portsmouth model is notable because the church does not sell its land. A long lease at no cost keeps the land in church ownership for generations, while allowing a housing authority to raise the finance and build.

For Jamaican churches with large compounds, a long ground lease to a housing partner is an option worth studying. It keeps the title with the church, lets a specialist handle construction and management, and can combine housing with services such as shelters for abused women or early childhood centres, all needs well known in Jamaica’s communities. Church trustees and diaspora supporters could explore such arrangements with the National Housing Trust and local housing charities.

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