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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Past Programs
The Town of Arlington formerly offered home loan improvement grants. Through CDBG, the Town provided
grants to individual low-income homeowner households to rehabilitate or repair their homes, though a lack of
applications by eligible households caused the Town to eliminate this program.

Assessment: With CDBG, HOME, and CPA, Arlington has significant resources at its disposal to address access to
fair housing opportunities, and some of those resources are already being spent on housing. There could be more
of an emphasis on addressing fair housing concerns and housing access through CDBG, CPA, and the AHTF
funding (as that latter agency becomes established). Though trade-offs between spending goals can be difficult,
the Town could shift more of these resources to housing. The recent shift of CPA funds to address housing need
during COVID-19 could serve as a precedent for re-balancing these flexible funding sources toward housing.
Doing so could also help more HOME funds to be spent in Arlington.

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Arlington Fair Housing Action Plan

Local Policies and Tools Recommendations
• Pass a resolution that codifies Arlington’s commitment to fair housing.

• Reduce the overall complexity of the Zoning Bylaw through recodification.

• Allow two-family development by right in nominally single-family districts where two-family dwellings
were historically commonplace.

• Make zoning changes to facilitate the development of multifamily housing options.

o Allow three-family, townhouse, and multifamily housing options by right in districts nominally
meant for them.

o In districts intended for higher densities, only allow single-family developments by Special Permit,
if at all.