Unspent federal funds raise questions about city priorities 

Four years after then-Mayor Tishaura Jones unveiled St. Louis’ $498 million federally funded Economic Justice Action Plan, the city faces a critical test: Can one of its most ambitious promises to address decades of disinvestment — particularly in North St. Louis — be fully carried out before deadlines force major reallocations or leave money on the table?

More than $200 million of St. Louis’ American Rescue Plan Act allocation remains unspent, even as federal rules required those dollars to be legally obligated by the end of 2024 and fully spent by the end of 2026. That leaves the city with roughly seven months to move hundreds of millions of dollars through projects, departments and contracts before risking lost opportunity or redirected priorities.

Jones’ Economic Justice Plan was historic not simply because of its size, but because it explicitly aimed to confront generations of inequity through investments in housing, small businesses, public infrastructure and neighborhood transformation, particularly in historically neglected Black communities.

Now, as deadlines tighten, questions are growing over whether that original vision will be fully realized.

According to the Community Development Administration’s 2025 impact report, the city has funded more than 100 nonprofits, supported north side businesses, expanded beautification projects and helped build or preserve thousands of affordable housing units. Yet significant portions of the broader plan remain incomplete, delayed or canceled.

Programs including emergency rental assistance and federally qualified health center development were canceled after initial appropriation. Other approved efforts — including early childhood education, youth and juvenile diversion, Pell Grant college assistance and some tenant support initiatives — have faced delays or remain unlaunched.

Five city departments — the Community Development Administration, Board of Public Service, Office of Violence Prevention, Department of Human Services and Street Department — account for roughly 90% of remaining unspent ARPA dollars.

At the same time, city leaders have increasingly turned to reallocating unspent money to other pressing needs, including water infrastructure and tornado-related recovery.

Nahuel Fefer, former Community Development Administration director under Jones and a key architect of the original economic justice framework, 

“They are absolutely taking a path that results in shifting funds from previously committed economic justice projects to other needs,” Nahuel Fefer, a key architect of the original economic justice framework, told The St. Louis American. 

That shifting strategy has intensified scrutiny over priorities.

In March, city officials advanced plans to redirect nearly $7 million in ARPA funds toward water infrastructure replacement and repair through Board Bill 161, drawing from previously allocated funds within departments including the Community Development Administration, Office of Violence Prevention and Department of Human Services.

On paper, the move is legal.

Fefer, Community Development Administration director under Jones, said the city is using a federal “revenue replacement” pathway that allows ARPA dollars to reimburse departments for eligible expenses incurred before the Dec. 31, 2024 obligation deadline.

Under that mechanism, Fefer said, ARPA money is not directly paying for new water projects. Instead, it reimburses the city for prior eligible expenditures, freeing local revenue for future use.

“When they’re sending money to the water department, they’re not saying, ‘OK, you can spend this ARPA money on new projects,’” Fefer said. “They’re saying, ‘Water Department, use this money to reimburse yourselves for the work you already did with local money in 2023 and 2024.’”

City officials maintain the process complies with federal rules.

“The City Counselor’s Office has a team whose job it is to monitor ARPA spending to ensure compliance,” said Rasmus Jorgensen, press secretary for Mayor Cara Spencer. He added that the Board of Aldermen has authority to reallocate funds within federal guidelines.

Jones declined to comment.

Fefer said his concern is not legality, but whether the city is fully using available flexibility to preserve struggling Economic Justice programs instead of moving money away from them.

“Anytime there is a project you’re worried will take too long, you can just reappropriate those funds for payroll, free up the same amount of general revenue money and appropriate those general revenue funds to those programs,” Fefer said.

The broader question is whether St. Louis’ signature economic justice agenda will ultimately be completed as originally envisioned — or reshaped by deadlines, shifting priorities and fiscal realities.

That question carries particular weight in North St. Louis, where generations of disinvestment have left many residents skeptical of large public promises.

During a November Board of Aldermen committee meeting, city ARPA compliance officials acknowledged both the scale of the challenge and the speed now required. After nearly four years to spend about 59% of available funds, the city must rapidly accelerate implementation to avoid falling short.

For city leaders, reallocating money may be a practical tool to prevent federal repayment. For critics and observers, however, the stakes are broader: whether St. Louis’ most prominent equity-focused recovery strategy becomes a model for transformational investment or a cautionary example of how ambitious public promises can be reshaped by bureaucracy, competing priorities and time.

Sylvester Brown Jr. is the Deaconess Foundation Community Advocacy Fellow.