By Adam Swift
At last week’s city council meeting, the Community Preservation Committee presented five recommendations for grants from the Community Preservation Fund.
City voters adopted the Community Preservation Act (CPA) in 2016. The CPA imposes a 1.5 percent surcharge on residential and commercial properties, with exemptions for low- and moderate-income homeowners. The CPC can make recommendations for the use of the funds for affordable housing, historic preservation, and open space proposals.
At its May 15 meeting, the CPC recommended approval of five applications for funding for referral to the city council. The council moved the recommendations for a second reading and a potential vote at its next meeting on Monday, June 23.
By statute, the city council can approve, reject, or lower the amounts of the CPC’s recommendations.
The CPC recommendations include $100,000 for the La Colaborativa Housing Voucher Program, $200,000 for Polonia Park, $200,000 for the Quinn Residences, $100,000 for The Neighborhood Developers Top Off Rental Assistance program, and $197,433 for the Walnut Street Synagogue.
The La Colaborativa Housing Voucher Program provides low- and moderate-income residents experiencing imminent or current homelessness with rental assistance with rental assistance stipends.
The money for Polonia Park would be used by the city’s housing and community development department to support environmental site assessments to understand the nature and extent of contamination at Polonia Park, and support any necessary remediation work to address risks before the park’s redevelopment construction.
The grant for the Quinn Residences would support the razing of an existing development of an existing building structure and the development of a 20-unit affordable owner-occupied residential building.
The Neighborhood Developers grant would allow for top-off rental assistance, and the Walnut Street Synagogue grant would be used for repairs to water damage inside the 116-year-old building.
“This is really going to support our residents in terms of people who need rental assistance and also to support environmental assessments at Polonia Park,” said Councilor-at-Large Roberto Jimenez Rivera. “I think it is a good thing that we are doing by spending these funds by supporting some of our neediest residents.”