Title
City Update on the Coronavirus Relief Fund Strategic Plan
Description
This report provides City Council with an update on the Community Services programs that were approved under the Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF) Strategic Plan.
THIS ITEM IS FOR DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION.
Report
Summary
On March 27, 2020 the CARES Act was signed into law to address the economic fallout resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The bill is the largest economic bill in United States history totaling over $2.1 trillion. The CARES Act provides different types of funding for which local governments can apply for funding to offset COVID-19 related expenses. As a large city with a population in excess of 500,000, Phoenix was awarded a direct allocation of $293 million in Coronavirus Relief Funds. The CRF is intended to cover only those costs that are necessary expenditures incurred due to the public health emergency with respect to COVID-19. On May 5, City Council approved a plan to allocate the CRF into three major categories:
- Community Services - $75 million
- City Operations - $75 million
- Reserve to Preserve City Services - $143 million
The Community Services portion of CRF was allocated to projects related to the health and safety of residents, small business assistance, and other social assistance programs. Programmatic expenditures under Community Services were broken down into seven distinct sections:
- Business Assistance - $15.7 million
- Utility & Rent/Mortgage Assistance - $30 million
- Distance Learning and Wi-Fi Access - $3.3 million
- Mitigation and Care for Vulnerable Populations - $10 million
- Food Delivery - $5 million
- Better Health Outcomes and Community Testing - $5 million
- Unallocated Funds - $6 million
The purpose of this report is to provide City Council with a regular update on the progress staff has made on the programs under Community Services. To date, we have released approximately $37.3 million of the funding to participants or vendors responsible for delivering services. The bulk of expenditures have been spent in the Business Assistance and Utility & Rent/Mortgage Assistance section, together they represent approximately $23.7 million in expenditures. A detailed breakdown of the life-to-date spending and activities for each program can be found in Attachment A. In addition, Attachment B from Wildfire provides a detailed year-to-date summary of direct payments made on behalf of residents under the Utility & Rent/Mortgage Assistance Program. To date, approximately 22,700 individuals have visited the Summer Heat Respite Center, the detailed daily attendance metrics can be found in Attachment C.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Jeff Barton and the Budget and Research Department.