Using CPA Funds for Housing Trusts, Conservation Funds, and Agricultural Preservation Funds
Does your community need the flexibility to purchase open space when it comes on the market, without having to obtain Town Meeting or City Council approval? Or do you need a way to acquire land for affordable housing without having to wait for your municipality’s legislative body to vote on each opportunity that arises? Or perhaps you need local funding to match a state grant for an Agricultural Preservation Restriction on a local farm?
When real estate opportunities like this arise, it’s important to react quickly, or your community may risk losing out on the deal. One way to approach this is to establish a local fund that can receive appropriations of CPA funding for a later, unspecified use. However, it's important to note that there are only three types of funds that are allowed to receive a transfer of CPA funding in this way:
- Conservation Funds
- Agricultural Preservation Funds
- Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts
These three types of funds are each established by state law, and have detailed rules and regulations that ensure that investments of public funding are protected and utilized appropriately. Municipalities cannot transfer CPA funding to other types of funds that have been created at the local level, as they lack this level of protection established by statute.
What is a Conservation Fund?
A Conservation Fund, established by MGL c.40 section 8(c), enables a municipality to appropriate monies which the conservation commission may then spend without further action from the municipality’s legislative body. As clarified in a letter from the Department of Revenue to the Town of Duxbury, CPA funds may be appropriated into the Conservation Fund and be spent on CPA-eligible uses. The expenditure of these funds is subject to the restrictions imposed by the CPA, such as the requirement that conservation restrictions be placed on properties that are acquired.
What is an Agricultural Preservation Fund?
An Agricultural Preservation Fund, established by MGL c. 40 section 8L(h), can be formed by a municipality’s Agricultural Commission, with the treasurer of the municipality serving as custodian. Similar to a Conservation Fund, this allows municipalities to set aside CPA funding to be used at a later time to acquire and protect local agricultural resources. Agricultural Preservation Funds are created by statute and contain rules and regulations guiding the use of the funds. And as with other funds that can receive CPA money, the money is still subject to all the rules, regulations, and limitations of the CPA.
What is an Affordable Housing Trust?
There are a few different types of housing trusts: municipal trusts created by home rule petition, private-non-profit trusts, and Municipal Affordable Housing Trusts, under MGL Chapter 44, Section 55C, which was signed into law by Governor Romney in January 2005.
The CPA law states specifically in Section 5(f) that “A city or town may appropriate money in any year from the Community Preservation Fund to an affordable housing trust fund.” Such trusts can have the power to purchase, sell, lease, manage, and improve real property for the purpose of creating and preserving affordable housing.
Other Considerations When Transferring CPA Funds to an Eligible Fund/Trust
CPA funds can be appropriated to Conservation Funds, Agricultural Preservation Funds, and Housing Trusts as long as any ultimate expenditure of those funds is for CPA-eligible uses. Therefore, it is recommended that CPA appropriations to these trust funds be tracked separately from monies generated from other sources to ensure proper accountability of CPA funds. In addition, it's important to prepare a grant agreement outlining the terms of how the money will be spent. This is especially important for transfers to housing trusts, as the trust is governed by a separate Board of Trustees. The Coalition has created a sample grant agreement that communities can use for grants to housing trusts.
Feb. 2026