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Friends and Supporters,
On November 14th, the Richmond City Council will hold a public meeting and vote on Ord. 2022-284 to accept the second round of federal funding of $77.4 million from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA).
The City is proposing to allocate $10 million for affordable housing, $60.5 million for capital improvement projects related to community centers, park infrastructure, and greenways, $1.5 million for acquiring property for new parks, and $1.24 million for Climate Risk Assessment and Implementation.
We appreciate and support funding for community centers, parks, and addressing climate challenges, but funding for affordable housing in particular is desperately needed and we wish more had been allocated for this purpose.
We are also disappointed that the City has greatly reduced its own local funding going to the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (AHTF) – perhaps they consider this $10 million from the Federal government a substitute. But we need regular city funding for affordable housing – not just a one time federal allocation, and we need far more than $10 million per year to meet the needs of our lowest income residents.
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