Massachusetts Rural Development Fund

Mallory Sullivan
857.408.0793
mallory.sullivan@mass.gov

The Rural Development Fund provides grants for economic and community development activities in rural communities and small towns in Massachusetts.

Eligible projects include, but are not limited to:

• Planning and zoning:
  • Create a housing production plan to understand housing needs and identify strategies to reduce gaps in existing housing
  • Create a multi-family zoning district near a transit station
  • Conduct a zoning review to identify and remove language that hinders economic growth
  • Create a plan to update zoning rules to unlock potential housing production and economic development growth
• Site preparation:
  • Create a site master plan, including predevelopment activities, on an underutilized commercial property with the intent to create mixed use that may include affordable housing
  • Conduct design, engineering, and/or permitting activities to address changes to existing water, sewer, and storm water in a potential development site
  • Demolish a blighted building that cannot be recovered to prepare a portion of a parcel or an entire parcel for mixed-use redevelopment that may include affordable housing
• Buildings:
  • Conduct design, engineering, and/or permitting activities to address ADA accessibility requirements for public buildings and resources
  • Rehabilitate housing to bring an underutilized property back onto the market
  • Provide further subsidies to an affordable housing project to directly create affordable housing units or increase the number of affordable units in a new housing project
• Infrastructure:
  • Conduct design, engineering, permitting, and construction for road improvements, including projects that address public safety concerns
  • Conduct design, engineering, and/or permitting activities to address improvements to existing water, sewer, and storm water infrastructure
  • Conduct design, engineering, and/or permitting activities to address construction of a new water line connection to an adjacent town or making plans to consolidate water districts for an area served only by wells
  • Conduct design, engineering, permitting, and construction of alternative transportation infrastructure to address ADA accessibility requirements for pedestrians and cyclists between residential and/or commercial areas

Eligible applicants are public entities from any Massachusetts town that meets the definition of a rural community (having less than 500 persons per square mile) and/or a small town (having a total population of 7,000 or less persons).

Public entities include:

• Municipal governments
• Public housing authorities
• Redevelopment authorities
• Water/sewer districts
• Economic development industrial corporations
• Public bodies created by legislative act
• Regional planning agencies

Award range: $50,000 - $500,000
Project period: Projects must be completed by June 30, 2026.

A link to the application instructions is available on the program website.

Submit applications online through the Massachusetts Community One Stop for Growth portal.