Westford Town Manager Kristen Las
Westford – The Healey-Driscoll Administration this morning awarded $8.7 million in MBTA Community Catalyst Funds to 10 fully compliant MBTA communities for Fiscal Year 2025. Among the recipients is the Town of Westford, which received $300,000.
The funding will allow Westford to conduct pre-development activities for critical transportation connectivity in its 3A district to leverage new development.
“Westford is proud to be an MBTA community and is grateful for the opportunity to use the Catalyst funds to support the implementation of an infrastructure upgrade to the area where we anticipate multi family housing to be developed in the near future,” Westford Town Manager Kristen Las tells InsideLowell. ” The Town seeks to identify strategic connections to existing trails and sidewalk networks as well as new trails and connections that are consistent with the goals of the Project. The Project will secondarily educate the public about the benefits of thoughtful multi-family development and redevelopment. Without this funding, we would not be able to develop and implement a plan that meets the needs of the developments and the Town of Westford.”
Cities and towns across the state are working hard to develop housing for their residents in new multifamily districts created by the MBTA Communities Law. In recognition of this progress, the Governor’s administration established the MBTA Communities Catalyst Fund competitive grant awards to support activities related to housing creation, from improving or expanding critical infrastructure, to funding the acquisition of land for new development.
“The MBTA Communities Law is already paving the way for new housing for Massachusetts residents, and today we are proud to award the first round of MBTA Community Catalyst Funds in support of cities and towns that are working hard to bring down housing costs for their residents,” said Governor Maura Healey. “From the start, our administration has been committed to working closely with communities to not only come into compliance with the law, but to also provide resources to help them turn their plans into reality. These funds will be crucial for supporting housing creation and infrastructure upgrades so that we can make housing more affordable across the state.”
“The MBTA Communities Law is a crucial tool for making housing more affordable for all Massachusetts residents,” said Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll. “Today’s Catalyst Fund awards will help compliant cities and towns invest in critical infrastructure improvements and land acquisitions to support the development of even more new units and lower costs.”
The MBTA Community Catalyst Fund is a new funding source created by the Healey-Driscoll Administration available to fully compliant MBTA Communities and works in partnership with the MassWorks and HousingWorks competitive grant programs to provide funding for local infrastructure projects and improvements to help unlock housing production. The administration has capitalized the MBTA Catalyst Fund with $15 million.
In total, awarded projects are expected to unlock up to 2,332 housing units in 3A districts, including units with affordability, by facilitating acquisition of land or funding infrastructure improvements, making future development possible.
