American Rescue Plan Act Funding

With ARPA funding, the Board of County Commissioners embraced the opportunity to provide strong leadership to make a transformational change in housing. $45.6 million is allocated towards this effort and includes mortgage assistance, affordable housing production and preservation, and homelessness prevention as further summarized below. All programs support the Board of County Commissioners priorities of affordable housing and helping residents stay in their homes.

1. Affordable Housing Production. Numerous local and national studies have been published on the need for additional affordable housing. More recently, reports state that affordable housing developments are in jeopardy given inflation, interest rates, and remaining supply chain issues. The Board of County Commissioners recognized this need by allocating $33.5 million for production of new affordable housing and rehabilitation of existing affordable housing units. Of this allocation, $8 million will be targeted specifically for re-entry, senior, and disabled housing. These funds will support low to moderate income households. The first round of funding awards was provided to projects that were shovel ready but had a remaining financing gap. Without this funding, several of the affordable housing projects being funded would not have moved forward. The program is a phased application and award process. The purpose of this approach is to address the great need for affordable housing by making an initial round of awards to truly “shovel-ready” projects, while intentionally preserving funds for smaller developers, projects in the County that might not be “shovel-ready,” and generally to allow time for developers and organizations to consider new projects that would access these funds.
2. Affordable Housing Preservation. To help keep people in their homes, $2 million is allocated for a homeowner repair loan program prioritizing low-income households and those households located in qualified census tracts. This program is expected to launch in 2024.
3. Mortgage Assistance. $5 million is budgeted for mortgage assistance programs for homeowners that are at or below 300% of the federal poverty level.
4. Homelessness Prevention. One of the most effective ways to reduce homelessness is to step in before someone loses their housing. Not only is it more cost-effective, but more importantly, it is less disruptive on the person or family. $3 million in ARPA funding is allocated to expand the shelter diversion program which is targeted to those who have lost their housing, are doubled up, and/or are running out of stable housing options. In addition, another $2 million was deployed as grant funds for innovative solutions to prevent homelessness. Both programs are focused on residents that are in jeopardy of losing their housing.

In June 2021, the County launched the 513Relief Bus to provide resources directly to those who need it most and ensure health and social services are more effectively provided to County residents.

The 513 Relief Bus travels to communities within Hamilton County to help improve health and economic outcomes. Phase 1 of this initiative was launched in June 2021 in partnership with UC Health who provided their mobile unit (funding was provided via CARES Act). Vaccines were administered by UC Health and Hamilton County Public Health. Access to social services was administered by Hamilton County Job and Family Services (JFS).

Hamilton County received its new, turnkey, commercially built bus in the winter of 2022. The new 513 Relief Bus launched on January 26, 2023, and includes general health screenings such as blood pressure, glucose monitoring, cholesterol testing, and referrals for more critical healthcare needs; mental health and substance abuse services; job coaching; senior services; and employment services.

Hamilton County Commissioners launch the new 513 Relief Bus program with community partners including: Freestore Foodbank, UC Health, Urban League, Hamilton County Public Health, Council of Aging, Hamilton County Clerk of Courts, and Center for Closing the Health Gap.

Hamilton County and partners have joined together to attempt to relocate the Cincinnati Police Department firing range that has been in its current location since 1947. When the gun range is in use, which is the majority of the year, the sound of firearms is evident throughout densely populated neighborhoods. The gunfire is a constant in the lives of residential neighbors surrounding the facility with approximately 2,300 residents located within one-half mile of the range. $10.4 million in funding has been allocated to help relocate and consolidate with the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Office.

The Board allocated $9 million to assist small businesses that were negatively impacted by the pandemic. The majority of the funding was provided in grants of up to $10,000. The remaining is to provide direct technical assistance.

1. Grants. Through the CARES ACT, Hamilton County, through its Office of Economic Development, conducted two rounds of grants to small businesses. In 2021, a third round was initiated that also included ARPA funding in the amount of $2.9 million. This grant was open to small businesses with 50 employees or less, had an economic loss due to the pandemic, and had less than $2.5 million in annual revenue. Remaining ARPA funding in this line item of approximately $4 million was used for a fourth round of grants. In the fourth round, 447 businesses received funding.
2. Small Business Support Services. Through the experience of small business grants, it is clear many of our small businesses excel at their craft yet struggle with back-office functions such as accounting and technology. To continue to support Hamilton County’s small businesses, the County entered into a subrecipient agreement with ECDI to provide eligible small businesses with expert technical assistance or advisory services. Simply put, the goal of this program is to help small businesses be more sustainable by providing expert advisory services in the following areas: Accounting; IT/computer literacy; Legal; and Marketing/social media/websites. Eligible small businesses include those located in a Qualified Census Tract or negatively impacted by the pandemic with less than 50 employees. The program launched in May 2023.