Rent is the largest single cost for many households, and buying a home now takes far more years of pay than it did. When housing takes too much of income, other essentials are squeezed and some households fall behind, cannot save a deposit or lose their home.
Who is affected: Private renters on low incomes, families facing eviction, younger adults trying to rent or buy, and households in shared housing.
Official local housing data feed. House prices are provisional, not seasonally adjusted; rents use the Price Index of Private Rents. Local short-term estimates are variable. Country references use only the explicitly country-coded ctry object, never the local place object.
Related measures
7.2 ratioHouse price compared with residents’ annual payCity 2025
2 · Who is acting
What’s being done
Official work and other organisations’ projects that address this problem, each with why it is linked. A shared action is the same record shown under each problem it addresses.
Why it’s linked: Housing Payments (formerly Discretionary Housing Payments) give short-term help with housing costs.
Committed by Portsmouth City CouncilIn progress
Crisis and Resilience Fund
Run the Crisis and Resilience Fund from 1 April 2026 to 31 March 2029: crisis payments, housing payments, grants to local resilience services and community coordination.
1 April 2026milestone Crisis and Resilience Fund began, running to 31 March 2029. source ↗
8 May 2026milestone Government grant determination allocated £3,691,344 to Portsmouth for 2026/27, paid in monthly instalments. source ↗
31 August 2026output 1,012 crisis payment applications received and 428 awards made, totalling £139,707; 323 applications were declined as ineligible. source ↗
23 September 2026output 33 resilience grants awarded, worth £748,392, from 47 applications; 90% of the money falls in the fund’s first year. source ↗
13 October 2026milestone Council states it has allocated over £1.5 million to local resilience services and over £400,000 to community coordination; funded services not yet listed. source ↗
13 October 2026milestone The council reports allocating over £1.5 million to resilience services (food, advice, energy, wellbeing, housing and homelessness help) and over £400,000 to community coordination, which funds the Cost of Living Hub and helpline. These are parts of the fund, not additions to it; the funded services had not yet been listed. source ↗
Why it’s linked: Homelessness prevention helps households at risk of losing their home, including through rent arrears or eviction.
Committed by Portsmouth City CouncilApproved
Homelessness Strategy 2024-2029
Adopt and deliver a five-aim homelessness strategy: prevent homelessness, end rough sleeping, provide the right housing, provide the right support and strengthen joint working, measured by a published suite of measures.
February 2024milestone Homelessness Strategy 2024-2029 published. source ↗
Why it’s linked: The 2026/27 government grant funds homelessness prevention work.
Committed by UK GovernmentFunded
Homelessness, Rough Sleeping and Domestic Abuse Grant 2026/27
Pay Portsmouth a homelessness, rough sleeping and domestic abuse grant for 2026/27, on condition that the council publishes a homelessness action plan and reports on its use.
Why it’s linked: Enforcement of standards in private rented homes, which renters pay for.
Committed by Portsmouth City CouncilApproved
Private rented housing enforcement
Apply an updated Private Sector Housing Enforcement Policy and Civil Financial Penalty Policy, reflecting the Renters’ Rights Act 2025, to breaches and offences from 1 November 2026.
Why it’s linked: Lowers the purchase price for eligible first-time buyers, where developers offer First Homes, so buying can cost less than renting or buying at full price.
Committed by UK GovernmentIn progress
First Homes scheme
Let first-time buyers in England buy eligible homes for 30% to 50% below market value, with household income up to £80,000 and a price cap of £250,000 after the discount outside London; councils may set local criteria for the first three months of sale.
Funded by Developers (discount on the sale price)Amount not stated · The discount is given by the developer on new homes, usually through planning agreements; not a government grant
No Portsmouth First Homes local criteria, price cap or number of homes sold was found on the council’s pages (searched 10 November 2026).
Whether a new site includes First Homes depends on its planning agreement. Councils’ published notes say national policy stopped requiring a First Homes share of affordable homes in December 2024; this was not confirmed from the current planning framework text. A developer listing the scheme elsewhere does not mean its Portsmouth sites offer it.
Why it’s linked: From 2027, lets first-time buyers buy a new-build home with a 2.5% deposit and a 20% government loan, interest free for five years.
Committed by UK GovernmentApproved
Your First Home (equity loan, from 2027)
Help first-time buyers buy an eligible new-build home in England with a deposit of at least 2.5%, a repayment mortgage and a government equity loan of 20% of the price, interest free for five years.
Applications are expected from February 2027; eligible homes, participating developers and lenders are not yet published.
Whether homes in Portsmouth will qualify depends on developers taking part and on local price caps.
Why it’s linked: Lets eligible council tenants buy their home at a discount.
Committed by UK GovernmentIn progress
Right to Buy (council tenants)
Let eligible council tenants buy their Portsmouth Homes property at a discount, after at least three years as a public sector tenant (or in armed forces accommodation); some homes, such as specialist housing for older or disabled people, are excluded.
Funded by Portsmouth City Council (discount on the sale price)Amount not stated · Discount depends on tenancy length, property type and value, and may be reduced under cost-floor rules
How many Right to Buy sales Portsmouth completes each year (published nationally by the government; not yet added here).
Each sale reduces the council’s stock of homes for rent; replacement is not reported alongside sales.
Why it’s linked: New homes in the city, at least 30% (about 251) planned as affordable rent or shared ownership; the ownership schemes above need new homes like these to exist.
In the city · housingUnder way
Tipner East (Victory Quay): 835 homes on the former Pounds scrapyard
VIVID is building about 835 homes, two to ten storeys, with at least 30% (about 251) intended as affordable rent and shared ownership, plus new sea defences, a coastal path and cycleway, on the former scrapyard at Tipner East.
Whose project
Run by VIVID (housing association) with Portsmouth City Council, Homes England, PMC (contractor)
Stage
Site preparation and groundwork were under way by September 2025; VIVID expected first homes in late 2026 (estimate; no completion verified). Highway improvements are tied to occupation of the 180th home (August 2025 variation, reported). (1 September 2025, Victory Quay construction update (2025) ↗)
Where, funding and what would show it worked
Where
Tipner East, by the M275 · Site in the city (Nelson ward area).
Funding
Funded by UK Government (City Deal) and Homes EnglandAmount not stated · Part of the government’s City Deal; amounts not stated in the article source ↗
What would show it worked
Output: Homes completed, and how many are affordable (VIVID’s stated minimum is 30%, about 251).
Next check
Signed Section 106 deed (2025 variation) and current affordable obligation; first completions; which homes are shared ownership and when plots and prices are released. See /housing-sites/victory-quay/.
1 earlier value
10 November 2026: stageDetail was “Land remediation almost complete and sea-wall works starting in September 2024; about five years expected to build all 835 homes. No later dated progress record has been added.”, now “Site preparation and groundwork were under way by September 2025; VIVID expected first homes in late 2026 (estimate; no completion verified). Highway improvements are tied to occupation of the 180th home (August 2025 variation, reported).” (source)
Renters’ Rights Act 2025: section 21 “no-fault” evictions ended from 1 May 2026 (government roadmap, 13 November 2025). National legal change; its local effect is not yet measured. Source ↗
How we’ll know
Measuring progress
Private rent growth compared with England, read alongside pay growth over the same years; the house price to pay ratio and the deposit a typical buyer would need; and how many of the planned homes are finished, how many are affordable and which can be bought.
A change in these figures does not by itself show that any one action worked.
3 · What is still missing
Not yet published
How many Housing Payments have been made and for how much (only a planned, estimated cost has been published).
A measured local rent-to-income figure for renters. ONS publishes a modelled estimate to 2023/24 (see gap-evidence.json), but local renter incomes are modelled, not measured, and the site’s own pay comparison sets house prices against pay, not rents against renters’ incomes.
How many First Homes have been offered or sold in Portsmouth (none recorded for Portsmouth in the national Affordable Housing Supply data to 2024-25).
Typical first-time buyer deposit and mortgage size for Portsmouth. The average first-time buyer price is published for the city; deposit and mortgage size are not.
Which new-build schemes will take part in Your First Home, and how many shared-ownership or First Homes plots have been sold in Portsmouth.
