The Worcester Affordable Housing Trust asked the Community Preservation Committee on June 12 for $1.5 million in CPA funding to create a grant program aimed at producing about 30 rental and homeownership units for households earning up to 80% of area median income, with priority for deeper affordability at 30–60% AMI.

The request was presented by Jeanette Tozer, Affordable Housing Trust Fund manager, who said the CPA dollars would be part of a complex financing stack used to make projects feasible and to signal local commitment when developers apply for state or federal funding. “The CPA funding through the trust will be an essential part of that funding stack,” Tozer said. She described a planned request for proposals by August and expected awards by November, with staff oversight and a grant agreement to outline reporting and use of funds.

Tozer and trustees present said the trust aims to prioritize shovel‑ready projects and projects that would unlock additional state funding. She explained the trust would cap awards by project (the draft budget cited a hypothetical $500,000 cap) and that the $1.5 million ask represents the trust’s initial round to establish future funding cycles. Tozer said past local American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding helped create net new affordable units and that CPA would be more predictable over time.

Committee members asked about payment‑in‑lieu (PIL) proceeds from inclusionary zoning; Tozer said none have been received to date, though the board had accepted an unrelated $100,000 donation. On timing, Tozer said construction‑to‑move‑in timelines vary with project scale but estimated 12–18 months for construction on projects that are financially and permitting‑ready.

The committee noted that municipal practice in other CPA communities is sometimes to hand a lump sum to a local housing trust for strategic deployment; Tozer said the trust intends to follow an RFP process and scoring informed by the CPC priorities and the trust’s five‑year strategic plan that had just been adopted.

Next steps: the CPC will score applications over the weekend and make funding recommendations at its June 17 meeting; any CPC recommendations would then go to City Council for final action before grant agreements begin.