Aldermen approve spending plan allocations
St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones announced Tuesday how her administration plans to spend the first $80 million in federal relief money from President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan Act.
Jones urged the St. Louis Board of Aldermen to approve the plan by July 1, which is the day the federal CARES Act rental assistance program is set to expire. If approved, most of the money — $58 million — will be allocated to “direct, urgent relief” including housing and utility assistance, support for the unhoused and immediate cash assistance.
“We knew these problems existed before, but COVID-19 highlighted how unsustainable the status quo truly is in this city.” – St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones
Another $11.5 million of the money is slated to address the root causes of crime and improve public safety. Jones said her administration plans to do that through increased funding for violence intervention programs, youth programming and jobs for young people.
“Poverty, housing instability, lack of access to mental health services, scarce jobs and opportunities for our youth, disinvestment and the like — these are the real root causes of crime plaguing our city,” Jones said. “This plan uses every tool available in our toolbox to address them and above all else this is a plan to deliver urgent economic relief to the families who need it. This is a plan to get more vaccines in the arms of our loved ones. And most importantly, this is a public safety plan, and this funding is just the beginning.”
In addition, the spending plan allocates $6.75 million in public health infrastructure to encourage more people to get vaccinated through mobile clinics and community canvassing. Jones confirmed on Tuesday that approximately 44,000 people in the city have been vaccinated — about 37 percent of the population.
Jones drove home the fact that she believes St. Louis can’t “return to normal” because the status quo before covid-19 resulted in inequitable treatment of St. Louis residents. She said the pandemic exposed the deep fault lines that divide the city along race, class and location.
“We knew these problems existed before, but COVID-19 highlighted how unsustainable the status quo truly is in this city,” she said.
Jones invited Sandra Moore, co-chair of the Stimulus Advisory Board, to speak during the media event.
In late May, Jones announced the members of her Stimulus Advisory Board, created to provide recommendations on how the city should allocate the over $500 million in federal money coming to the city. Many community leaders see this cash infusion as having the potential to alter the direction the city is headed.
On Tuesday, the mayor acknowledged that the proposed plan was an altered version of what the advisory board came up with. Moore said the members of the board put in hundreds of hours identifying key direct relief needs and soliciting input from the public.
“I’m proud of the transparent, data driven and community driven process we ran and we’re proud of the recommendations we’ve made to Mayor Jones,” Moore said. “These recommendations are community informed. They may not be perfect, but they are indeed what the community has told us that they need at this point in time.”
Jones said that while the money is a temporary resource for the city, she hopes the funding to continue these programs after the four years will come from an increased revenue stream.
“So, what we hope will happen is that this initial investment will work so well that people will come back to the city, increase our tax revenue, and therefore will be able to keep funding these programs,” Jones said.
The mayor confirmed she has already begun discussing the plan with aldermen, hoping to ensure they approve it before the July 1 deadline. She said the conversations have gone well thus far, and she’s asked what each aldermen’s priority is for the next round of federal money.
“I want to make sure that they are part of this process,” she said.
