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Greetings!
December is a good time to remind ourselves of the terrific CPA accomplishments in 2009. With the addition of our 142nd community, CPA now serves 40% of the municipalities in the state. The number of approved CPA projects passed the 3,500 mark, while total CPA funding statewide reached $820 million (combined total from the local surcharge revenue and trust fund distributions). We should all be quite proud that CPA is truly making a difference in the Commonwealth!
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| CPA News |
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CPA Legislative Update - SB 90
As we reported last month, our bill SB 90, An Act to Sustain Community Preservation, received a favorable recommendation from the Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business. The Committee's Co-chair, Representative Linda Dorcena Forry, said in a letter to the Coalition that her office had received hundreds of letters detailing ways that CPA has positively changed communities. All your hard work in support of the bill has really made a difference!
SB 90 would guarantee a minimum annual CPA trust fund match of 75% for each community participating in the program. In addition, it would broaden participation in CPA by making it easier for cities and less affluent communities to join, and clarify allowable uses of CPA funds (notably allowing CPA funding for existing outdoor recreational facilities, and more clearly defining the ways in which CPA funds can support community housing).
The Bill now moves forward to the House Ways and Means Committee, which will take it up when legislators return from their holiday recess in January.
The Coalition's Pending Legislation page has more information on SB 90.
CPA Trust Fund Update
The statewide CPA trust fund continues to register a slight upward trend in revenues. August 2009 collections were up $610,985 over August 2008, September collections were up $295,455 from last September, and October collections were up $253,580. October marks the eighth consecutive month of increased collections as compared to last year. We will continue to monitor the trust fund revenues each month, and report on the figures in future issues of CPA Update.
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Housing Buy-Down Programs - A Great Way to Create Affordable Housing Without New Construction |
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By Leedara Zola
 With the recent downturn in the residential real estate market, communities and affordable housing advocates have been looking for ways to take advantage of the lull in housing prices and the glut of foreclosed properties. A Housing Buy-Down Program can provide such a mechanism, using subsidies (including CPA funds) to bridge the gap between what is available on the open market and what is affordable - in essence, "buying down" the market rate home price to an affordable home price.
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A Great Way to Leverage Your Local CPA Funds! |
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 One of the most powerful arguments for participating in the CPA program is the ability of communities to use their CPA revenue to leverage other funding sources. In this economy in particular, CPA communities have a leg up on other cities and towns when it comes to applying for state grants. Those grant programs typically require a significant local match, and the CPA legislation specifically allows CPA funds to be used as the local matching portion of state-grant-eligible projects. The result is that CPA communities are getting the lion's share of many of these state grants; other communities just aren't able to find the funds in these tight-budget times.
For example, nine of the twelve communities that were funded for open space projects last month under the state LAND grant program were CPA communities! For more information on these nine successful grant applications, plus information on the state's land preservation progress, click here.
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This Issue's Featured CPA Project: Pine Woods in Stockbridge
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 The project featured at the top of this newsletter and at right is Pine Woods, a project in Stockbridge which used both open space and affordable housing funds. As the voters of Stockbridge were adopting CPA in 2002, the town's Affordable Housing Committee was embarking on a $7 million community housing initiative to be known as Pine Woods. Stockbridge is in southern Berkshire County - an area where a local realtor told the Berkshire Eagle in 2007 that "crisis" was not too strong a word to describe the housing shortage for middle-class working people. Completed in 2006, the Pine Woods development consists of 30 rental units - 5 market rate and 25 affordable. There are a total of 15 buildings, including a community center, which are clustered on 4 acres of a 17-acre site. In addition to the CPA contribution, funding sources for the project included HOME funds, Community Based Housing Program funds, the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston (through Berkshire Bank), the state's Affordable Housing Trust Fund, and private donations. Sally Underwood-Miller, Stockbridge CPC Chair, noted that the CPA contribution of $300,000 was critical to the town's ability to leverage all of these financial resources to complete the project. CPA open space funds also allowed the Stockbridge Land Trust to protect a green corridor along the road, plus 12 acres stretching down to the Housatonic River, through conservation easements. The project was managed by Construct, Inc., a noted non-profit organization whose mission is to increase and preserve the affordable housing stock in south Berkshire County. Cara Davis, Executive Director of Construct, Inc. said that last year the Stockbridge CPC granted another $10,000 in open space and recreation funds to create community gardens at the Pine Woods site. Said Davis, "Our effort to encourage Stockbridge families and their grown children to stay in town is succeeding. At Pine Woods, they've established a wonderful sense of community." | |
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