How Innovative Communities Are Using ARPA Funds to Transform Housing and Address Environmental Hazards
by Sarah Goodwin
When we first wrote last fall about the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), we highlighted the huge opportunity present in the flexible recovery funding that the law provides to state, territorial, city, county, and tribal governments. With broad categories of activities that funding could support, the specific mentions of lead poisoning prevention in the interim final rule, and decisions about how to prioritize spending left up to the recipients, ARPA represented a significant chance for communities to use new money to address environmental hazards in homes.
We’re now over 13 months from the law’s final passage, almost a year from when communities started being able to access the funds, and about eight months from that original blog post, and we’re thrilled to share that communities have seized the opportunity and are already implementing innovative ways to use the funding.
The “ARPA Innovators” Series
This post serves as the introduction to a new series describing how communities are using ARPA funds to address healthy housing issues. Each post spotlights a different program, described by an insider. You can access all the posts below, and we’ll update this page with new stories as we continue to receive them.
The communities we’re highlighting are implementing a wide variety of projects, including those targeting lead paint hazards, lead in water and other drinking water quality issues, indoor air quality and asthma triggers, and home repair needs.
We are so excited to share these projects, and we know there are many more states and localities that are designing and implementing innovative and needed healthy housing projects. If you have a project or program you’d like to share through this series, please contact us!
Meet our “ARPA Innovators”:
- Vermont Housing Improvement Program: providing grants to property owners to repair properties that are vacant or threatening to become vacant due to code violations. Later rounds of this funding require property owners to rent the units to tenants exiting homelessness.
- City of Pittsburgh: providing funds to replace lead service lines and support implementation of the new Pittsburgh Lead Safety Law, which address lead hazards in paint, water, renovation and repairs, and demolitions.
- North Carolina Division of Public Health: testing water for lead and mitigating hazards in public schools, and supporting inspections and abatement for lead and asbestos at schools and child care facilities.
- City of Utica: projects to support exterior home repair and replace windows, as well as an indoor asthma triggers pilot project and supplemental funds for lead hazard reduction.
- Vermont Healthy Homes Programs: repairing water and wastewater systems in owner-occupied and manufactured homes.
- Linn County PATCH Program: repairing homes damaged by a derecho storm in 2020.
The American Rescue Plan: A Recap
President Biden signed the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA) into law on March 11, 2021. Among its provisions, the bill provides a significant amount of recovery funding to state, local, territorial, and tribal governments, totaling $195.3 billion to states, $65.1 billion to counties, $45.6 billion to cities, $20 billion to tribal governments, $19.5 billion to non-entitlement units of local government, and $4.5 billion to territories.
These funds are also called the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF). The funds must be fully obligated by December 31, 2024, and fully spent by December 31, 2026.
The Department of the Treasury issued an Interim Final Rule on May 10, 2021, and a Final Rule on January 27, 2022, which took effect on April 1, 2022. They also provided an overview of the final rule.
The Interim Final Rule had five categories of eligible activities. The Final Rule simplified this into four categories:
- Replace lost public sector revenue.
- Support the COVID-19 public health and economic response.
- Provide premium pay for essential workers.
- Invest in water, sewer, and broadband infrastructure.
Category two, “support the COVID-19 public health and economic response,” is where the majority of healthy homes-related interventions and programs would fall. Generally, the Treasury advises that recipients should (1) identify a COVID-19 public health or economic impact on an individual or class (i.e., a group) and (2) design a program that responds to that impact. The Treasury presumes that the following households and communities been impacted by the pandemic:
- Low- or-moderate income households or communities.
- Households that experienced unemployment.
- Households that experienced increased food or housing insecurity.
- Households that qualify for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, Childcare Subsidies through the Child Care Development Fund (CCDF) Program, or Medicaid.
- When providing affordable housing programs: households that qualify for the National Housing Trust Fund and Home Investment Partnerships Program.
- When providing services to address lost instructional time in K-12 schools: any student that lost access to in-person instruction for a significant period of time.
- Some of the programs and projects that the Treasury includes as eligible for these populations are home repair and home weatherization.
The Treasury also presumes that the following households and communities have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, due to pre-existing disparities:
- Low-income households and communities.
- Households residing in Qualified Census Tracts.
- Households that qualify for certain federal 5 benefits.
- Households receiving services provided by tribal governments.
- Households residing in the U.S. territories or receiving services from these governments.
Some of the programs and projects that the Treasury includes as eligible for these populations are remediation of lead paint or other lead hazards, improvements to vacant and abandoned properties, schools and other educational equipment and facilities, and investments in neighborhoods to promote improved health outcomes.
In addition, eligible activities under Category #5 include lead remediation projects in drinking water, such as testing, corrosion control treatment, and lead service line replacement.
Additional Resources
The American Rescue Plan: A New Opportunity for Healthy Homes Funding
Read our previous blog about the American Rescue Plan, by NCHH’s Sarah Goodwin and Devra Levy from the Childhood Lead Action Project.
Additional Resources
Read blogs from our “ARPA Innovators” in this series:
Vermont Housing Improvement Program | City of Pittsburgh | North Carolina Division of Public Health | City of Utica | Vermont Healthy Homes Programs | Linn County PATCH Program
The American Rescue Plan: A New Opportunity for Healthy Homes Funding
Read our previous blog about the American Rescue Plan, by NCHH’s Sarah Goodwin and Devra Levy from the Childhood Lead Action Project.
The American Rescue Plan: Opportunities to Address Lead in Paint and Pipes
This fact sheet from NCHH clarifies the applicable uses for ARPA funding by states and localities and demonstates how communities can benefit from investments in lead-based paint remediation and lead service line replavcement. [pdf; NCHH, 2021]
The American Rescue Plan: Opportunities to Address Lead Hazards in Homes
This fact sheet from NCHH clarifies the applicable uses for ARPA funding by states and localities and demonstates how communities can benefit from investments in various healthy homes-related programs. [pdf; NCHH, 2021]
Local Allocations in the American Rescue Plan Act
Use use this page created by the National League of Cities to look up allocations for municipalities and non-entitlement units of local government. [url; NLC, 2021]
ARPA State Fiscal Recovery Fund Allocations
Every day, the National Conference of State Legislatures updates this page that tracks how states are using their ARPA funds. [url; NCSL]
State Recovery Plans.
This page from the National Association of State Budget Officers collects reports on use of the recovery funds, which states and territories must submit annually. [url; NASBO]
U.S. Treasury Department’s Allocation Information
These spreadsheets, published by the Treasury Department, track ARPA allocations by state, territory, county, and metropolitan city. [pdf; Treasury]
Aligning American Recovery Plan Dollars to End the Toxic Legacy of Lead Poisoning
The Green & Healthy Homes Initiative also published a blog about how ARPA funding can reduce and possibly end unnecessary lead exposures. [url; GHHI]
Sarah Goodwin joined NCHH as a Policy Analyst in June 2017. She previously served NCHH as a policy intern, helping to establish and run the Find It, Fix It, Fund It lead action drive and its work groups. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies: Communications, Legal Institutions, Economics, and Government from American University.