Community Preservation Act

The Community Preservation Act (CPA) Fund was established after the voters of Somerville overwhelmingly adopted the CPA (M.G.L. Ch. 44b) in November 2012. The CPA creates a dedicated funding source for the City to invest in affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space and recreational land projects.

The Community Preservation Committee is responsible for implementing the CPA in Somerville, by working with the community to establish priorities for how CPA funding should be spent and making recommendations to the City Council for specific projects to receive funding. The Committee also submits an annual budget to the City Council which is determined in part by the enabling state CPA legislation. The legislation allows communities to devote up to 5% of estimated annual CPA revenue to the administrative and operating expenses of the Committee and requires communities to devote a minimum of 10% of estimated annual CPA revenue to each funding category: affordable housing, historic resources, and open space and recreational land. The Community Preservation Committee is recommending the prior year minimums remain the same at 50% for affordable housing, 15% for historic resources, and 20% for open space/recreational land.