Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)

Citation: Town of Arlington, Fair Housing Action Plan (July 2021)
Jurisdiction: Arlington (municipal)
Source: Official source
Original Source: https://www.arlingtonma.gov/home/showpublisheddocument/57214/637641171662530000 ↗

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Community Preservation Act
The Town of Arlington adopted the Commonwealth’s local-option Community Preservation Act (CPA) in 2014.29
CPA adds a surcharge to annual property tax bills and provides additional state funding that must be used for
specific purposes. In Arlington, CPA is calculated as 1.5% of the property tax, with exemptions for low-income
households and on the first $100,000 of assessed value for all properties. Since 2016 (the first year CPA began
collecting funds), the Town has raised $1.3-1.7 million annually in the local surcharge, and $233,000-$490,000
annually in state funding. CPA funds must be spent on affordable housing, Historic Preservation, Open Space and
Recreation, with minimum of 10% of each year’s funding spent on each category.
Each year since fiscal year 2017, Arlington has budgeted 21%-37% of its CPA spending for housing.30 Most
years housing was budgeted with 21%-26% of spending, but anticipated spending on housing was increased for
fiscal year 2021 to support tenants during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Other than COVID supports,
Arlington’s CPA budget for housing has contributed to the rehabilitation of existing public housing and
development of new affordable housing units (from small to mid-size buildings).

Table 6: CPA budgets by spending category, FY2017-21

Fiscal Year Open Space Historic Housing Reserves Expenses
and Recreation Preservation
2017 44% 19% 26% 6% 5%
2018 27% 28% 21% 21% 3%
2019 62% 8% 26% 0% 4%
2020 29% 47% 22% 0% 2%
2021 44% 16% 37%* 0% 3%
Source: Arlington Community Preservation Act Reports to Town Meeting, 2016-2020
* Includes reserves for held for housing