Acquisition, Creation, and Conversion (ACC) Program

Trust Board Contact: Sarah Suarez, Assistant Director of Planning and Community Development, ssuarez@town.arlington.ma.us

About The Trust

The Affordable Housing Trust Fund Board of Trustees (Board of Trustees) was established for the purpose of creating a separate fund “to provide for the preservation and creation of Community Housing in the Town of Arlington, as such term is defined in Section 2 of M.G.L. c.44B, the Community Preservation Act (CPA).”

The Board of Trustees acts on the powers set forth in M.G.L. Chapter 44, Section 55C. The eight-member Board includes one ex officio non-voting member, one member of the Select Board, at least one tenant who earns a low- or moderate-income and residents in subsidized housing and understands tenant issues, and at least two representatives of local housing organizations dedicated to the creation and maintenance of affordable housing. All voting members are residents or representatives of local housing organizations, and have experience in areas of expertise applicable to advancing the purpose and goals of the trust, such as real estate, social services, banking, law, etc.

The Trustees began their initial work in the fall of 2021 by drafting, receiving Select Board approval for, and executing a Declaration of Trust. The Declaration of Trust is recorded with the Middlesex South Registry of Deeds and filed with the Middlesex South Registry District of the Land Court.

Presently, the Trust's work is focused on implementing the recommendations outlined in its 5-Year Action Plan (2022-2027) which was developed in accordance with recommendations in the updated 2021 Housing Production Plan.

AHT's Five-Year Housing Action Plan

On November 7, 2022 the Arlington Select Board approved the Affordable Housing Trust Action Plan. The plan incorporates feedback from the public, affordable housing professionals, and housing stakeholders on Town boards and committees in preparing recommendations for creating, preserving, and financing affordable housing in Arlington. With the approval of the plan, the Trust can now move into implementation, and has begun identifying strategies from the Action Plan that can be immediately acted upon. The Trust is grateful to everyone in the Arlington community who took the time to provide comments in the development of the plan. 

The five-year Action Plan was developed to guide the Trust's actions and activities. The purpose of the action plan is threefold:

  1. To create a transparent and clear plan for use by the Trust to communicate its work, goals, and priority initiatives to the community;
  2. To identify one or more areas of focus for the Trust based on available and anticipated resources combined with community-informed goals for the production and preservation of affordable housing; and
  3. To ensure that Trust resources are used to further the Town’s goals and objectives in addressing local housing needs and related community goals.

The Trust has established goals and strategies based on the 2021 Housing Production Plan and Fair Housing Action Plan. It had also established a community engagement process, which was implemented by the Trustees concurrently with the development of the Action Plan.

Public Engagement 

Throughout the summer and fall of 2022, Trustees engaged with the community through an online survey, intercept surveys, focused listening sessions with hard to reach populations, street team outreach, ongoing email comments and outreach, and a general public Listening Session on July 28,2022. At that forum, Trustees presented the results of the Affordable Housing Survey and invited attendees to share their comments on affordable housing in Arlington. 

Download the presentation slides.
View the recording here.

The Trust received more than 800 responses to the survey, which will be used to inform the development of the Trust's Action Plan.

A second public meeting to present the draft Action Plan was held on September 21, 2022. Download the presentation slides, or watch a recording of the meeting below.   

The Trust continues to accept comments from any and all members of the Arlington community via email at ArlingtonAHT@gmail.com. 

History

The 2016 Housing Production Plan (HPP) recommended the creation of an Affordable Housing Trust Fund in order to utilize local housing funds swiftly as opportunities arise. The Housing Plan Implementation Committee (HPIC) worked with the Department of Planning and Community Development to research, assess, and file a Warrant Article to establish the Trust. With support of the Select Board and Finance Committee, Town Meeting voted to establish the Arlington Affordable Housing Trust Fund, Article 14 of the Town Bylaw, at the 2020 Special Town Meeting. To learn more about Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Funds and their activity throughout the Commonwealth, read the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Municipal Affordable Housing Trust Guidebook.

Resources

Video Webinars and Information Sessions

For past webinars and information sessions, please visit the Arlington Affordable Housing Page,  and click "Affordable Housing Webinars."

Reference Materials

Other Relevant Reference Materials