WBUR: Boston allocates remaining pandemic relief funds to housing and small businesses

Zeninjor Enwemeka, WBUR

The city of Boston will invest its remaining $7 million of federal pandemic relief funds in efforts to support affordable housing and small businesses, Mayor Michelle Wu and other city officials announced Monday.

The funds come from the $558.7 million infusion the city received in 2021 from the Biden administration through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), according to Wu.

The city's remaining $7 million economic stimulus dollars have to be allocated by the end of this year and spent by the end of 2026. Wu said she believes the funds will have "maximum impact" in the affordable housing and small business programs since they are already up and running.

Of the remaining funding, $3 million will help extend the Boston Housing Authority's First Home Program, which provides eligible families up to $75,000 in down payment assistance toward purchasing a home in Boston.

"Our entire city benefits when we're able to see families who love Boston, who have built up our city, be able to stay here and keep contributing to everything that they're doing as neighbors, as civic leaders, and as working professionals in our city," Wu said.

More than 50 families have accessed BHA's First Home program since it was launched in November 2022. That's more than double the amount of families that participated in previous BHA homeownership programs, according to Boston Housing Authority Administrator Kenzie Bok.

The $3 million allocation will allow the BHA First Home program to continue for two more years and serve an additional 57 homebuyers in Boston.

"What's so amazing about that is we've really seen people's purchasing power actually be able to compete in this very hot market," Bok said.

One of those homebuyers joined city officials Monday outside her Mattapan home to celebrate the expansion of the program. Keanna Rice purchased her house six months ago with down payment assistance from BHA.

"This is a dream. Not everyone can afford a house, especially in this market," Rice said.

"I secured this for me, my future," she added. "My plan is to build generational wealth. Hopefully, this is a stepping stone where I could go get another house."

Another $3 million of the remaining stimulus funding will be used to increase Boston's affordable housing stock through the city's Acquisition Opportunity Program. The program helps affordable housing developers purchase units off the private market to convert them into income-restricted housing. ARPA funding has already been used to secure 400 such units and prevent displacement of the city's residents, according to Boston's housing chief Sheila Dillon.

"And we have a pipeline of over 350 units where good organizations, good developers want to do the same thing," Dillon said.

The final $1 million of the ARPA funds will help small businesses open up storefronts in vacant spaces across Boston, Wu said. This will be done through the city's SPACE grant program, which provides funding to help entrepreneurs with rent, upfront capital costs and other necessary infrastructure for their businesses. The program has helped more than 60 small business entrepreneurs to date, according to Segun Idowu, Boston's chief of economic opportunity and inclusion.

"These 60 businesses have hired or created close to 600 new jobs here in the city of Boston," Idowu said. "Things that we know are going to give folks the opportunity to grow their own dreams."

It's unclear how the city will continue to grow these initiatives after the last $7 million runs out.

"The impact is huge, and we're going to keep fighting for that funding, to have sustainability to what we know matters for residents," Wu said.

The mayor suggested the city may have to look to state lawmakers for future funding. She said some proposals considered by the legislature this past session could potentially deliver some promise, such as the real estate transfer tax, which would spur more affordable housing in the city. That proposal was ultimately stripped out of the housing bill that was signed into law last month.

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