MATTAPOISETT — In the closest vote of the night and the only one that required a headcount to determine the outcome, Town Meeting narrowly approved transferring $250,000 from the CPA Undesignated Fund to the CPA Community Housing Fund.

The amount transferred will be used for any future affordable housing projects, and cannot be moved out of the Community Housing Fund, which now has a total balance of $407,000.

Within the Community Preservation Act are four categories where funds can be used. In addition to Community Housing, these are Open Space, Historic Resources and Recreation. Since the $250,000 was allocated to Community Housing, it can’t be used for any projects that fall under the three other categories.

“We will be broadcasting that Mattapoisett is willing to participate or partner with private or public investors and the development of affordable housing somewhere within our borders,” said Community Preservation Committee member Chuck McCullough who presented the warrant article at Town Meeting.

Questions raised by voters included why the Community Preservation Committee chose to request the transfer of funds now when there aren’t currently any projects in the works or being discussed.

“We’ve been hoping to have a public private partnership for housing and commercial development, but that just hasn’t happened,” Nicki Demakis said.

Bill Morse spoke in favor of reallocating the funds, pointing to the advantage that the funds won’t be able to be transferred or used for another purpose, such as land acquisition or recreation.

“You are saying to prospective developers that there are funds available, and they are committed exclusively to affordable housing,” he said.

McCullough said that ultimately the goal is to “balance the scales” of how CPA funds are being allocated and tucking funds away for future affordable housing projects.

He argued that now is a good time to allocate the funds because “something might be coming down soon.”

“If someone were to approach, it wouldn’t be that far into the future,” McCullough added. “I think this could be within a year.”