NEWS & CITY LIFE
H o usi ng | By Ian Donnis
In partnership with The Public’s Radio • ThePublicsRadio.org
Housing is top priority in new recommendations on using RI’s $1B in ARPA money A panel unveiled recommendations [in October] for how to spend Rhode Island’s $1.065 billion in American Rescue Plan Act money, including using almost half of the money to address the state’s long-term housing crisis, particularly for low- and moderate-income residents. The recommendations were formed by the Rhode Island Foundation, the liberal Economic Progress Institute and the business-backed Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council during a months-long public process. The foundation took the lead in engaging the two other groups to arrange conversations, offer policy analysis,
and provide input on how to spend the money. The executive summary for the recommendations calls the $1 billion windfall “an historic opportunity to address and counter the disparate public health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, which reflect long-standing inequities based on systemic racism, gender and disability. And, to ensure that investment of these funds supports a genuine recovery that is broad and inclusive, efforts to allocate ARPA funds need to be transparent and accountable to all Rhode Islanders.” On housing, the recommendations cite
goals of creating at least 5,150 units of affordable housing, remediating lead paint for 2,850 units, and renovating or repairing code violations at at least 4,000 homes. To do this, the trio of organizations call for spending $405 million from Rhode Island’s ARPA money. The other major areas covered in the findings – entitled “Make it Happen: Investing for Rhode Island’s Future” – include calling for the use $255 of the American Rescue Plan Act money for behavioral health; $205 million for workforce development; $100 million for small business assistance; $50 million to aid neighborhoods in
Photo by Ian Donnis
Michael DiBiase of RIPEC discusses some of the recommendations
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ProvidenceOnline.com • December 2021
