An extra $1.85 million in housing insecurity assistance and other assistance was approved by the Unified Government Commission on Thursday night.
The funding will come from the $87 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds that the UG is receiving.
At the meeting, UG Commissioner Jane Philbrook thanked UG Administrator Doug Bach and the UG staff for putting together the housing assistance proposal that the commissioners had requested a few weeks ago. She thanked them for understanding that this is an emergency and not something they can put off for a few months.
“Some of these folks are already in the streets,” Commissioner Philbrook said.
Ten to 12 Wyandotte County nonprofit agencies could receive funding to help with housing insecurities.
Just around an hour or so after the UG voted, news came out about the end of the national eviction moratorium. The U.S. Supreme Court vacated a stay on evictions on Thursday. The court wrote, “It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts.”
Justice Stephen Breyer dissented from the majority’s opinion, including in his opinion a chart of the cases and deaths from COVID-19 and the Delta variant, which are currently rising in the nation. He cited irreparable harm from vacating the stay, as COVID-19 rates have spiked in recent weeks. The opinion is online at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/20pdf/21a23_ap6c.pdf.
At the UG meeting, UG Commissioners Gayle Townend and Melissa Bynum also had spoken in favor of allotting more money for direct housing and basic needs assistance for Wyandotte County residents. The measure passed unanimously.
Commissioner Bynum said with an injection of revenues that they have never seen before, the UG has an amazing opportunity to take a problem that impacts every corner of the community and put in a structure that solves it, with their community partners. They have an opportunity to make a huge leap forward for many struggling residents in the community, she said.
Commissioner Christian Ramirez said he was in support of the housing insecurity funding, and other ARPA funding remaining will be an opportunity for real change in the community.
Commissioner Tom Burroughs urged the UG to get those dollars out to the community to those in need, and not to wait.
The housing assistance program will go through the UG Health Department, according to officials. Juliann Van Liew, Health Department director, said it will be run similar to the CARES Act funding, which went through the United Way to distribute funding to several nonprofit agencies in Wyandotte County that have traditionally handled this sort of assistance.
While there has been a state program funded with federal dollars to assist renters with housing and utility needs, they have been hearing from nonprofit agencies that residents had trouble accessing the program funding, and that the agencies needed funding to help the residents with their applications. The state program was narrowly defined as to who would be eligible for the funding.
With the UG’s allocation, the nonprofit agencies would have broader discretion on helping individuals with housing needs, according to Van Liew.
Commissioner Townsend was in favor of broader discretion in helping individuals. The objective would be to keep residents in their dwellings, she said.
Besides housing assistance, the plans are to use the funding for utility and food assistance, according to Van Liew.
Evictions have been linked to COVID-19, as some residents have lost jobs because of the economic effects of the pandemic. Others may have contracted the virus and been unable to work. Some families have lost income earners to death from the virus.
The details of the UG’s program are expected to be announced at a later time. The program would run through January 2022, according to the UG resolution.
The UG Commission also approved the $87 million that is being allocated from ARPA funding.
About $11.7 million will be spent on “immediate needs.” This plan was outlined at a meeting a few weeks ago. The $1.8 million for housing assistance is in addition to the $11.7 million.
Most of the $87 million the UG is receiving in ARPA funding is going to revenue loss replacement from COVID, according to UG officials, including $31 million for the city and $11 million for the county.
The remainder of the funding, $24 million for the city and $21 million for the county, is available to be spent on other ARPA categories as outlined by federal guidelines, according to UG officials. There is currently a UG administration proposal to use some of the funds to build up the UG’s reserves for a year or two.
The UG received around half of the federal funding this year, with the rest to be received next year. The UG will have a few years to make decisions on how to spend the remainder of the funding that was not allocated for revenue loss replacement.
Of the $11.7 million in “immediate needs,” public health will receive $5.95 million; while $2.38 million will go to reduce negative economic impact; $1.07 million will be for disproportionately impacted communities assistance; $422,000 will go to ARPA grant support; and $1.93 million will go toward online processing and technology investment.
According to UG officials, there is still time for residents to suggest their ideas on how to spend the money through an online forum at https://dashboards.mysidewalk.com/american-rescue-plan-act or by email to [email protected].
More information on the UG meeting is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbq2U0j3Rn8.
