Franklin County says jobs, housing, broadband among priorities for $256M in COVID relief – The Columbus Dispatch

The Franklin County commissioners have already committed millions of dollars in federal coronavirus-related relief forjob training, rental assistance and other initiatives aimed at helping residents, businesses and nonprofit groups recover from the ongoing pandemic.

And theyre eyeing tens of millions of dollars in additional assistance for affordable housing, broadband expansion and other programs to ensure Franklin County is best positioned for a rebound once COVID-19 is a distant memory.

This is a once-in-a-generation type of an opportunity, said Commissioner John OGrady, one of the three elected members of the county board of commissioners, which ultimately approves the disbursements. Its not every day you get these kinds of dollars to make a difference and make an influence in your community. We want to make sure were doing it right.

Franklin County will receive nearly $256million through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, the federal coronavirus-relief legislation enacted earlier this year by Democrats without the support of any Republican U.S. Senator or U.S. House members.

Details about local spending are available on a new county website (https://commissioners.franklincountyohio.gov/arp), which includes a running list of allocations approvedby the commissioners.

Franklin County is receiving its total Rescue Plan allocation in two disbursements of about $128 million each. Of the initial amount, the commissioners have allocated more than $76 million, with another $51 million-plus remaining.

Of thattotal, the federal legislation anticipates the county willneed about $50 million for revenue losses expected because of the ongoing pandemic to help cover general county expenses. Those funds have not been formally allocated yet, just set aside in the countys books in anticipation of infrastructure and other costs.

Otherwise, the commissioners have signed off on about $25 million in other federal COVID relief money spendingthrough 20 different resolutions adopted at their regular weekly sessions. Among the notable expenditures:

$7 million to the Mid-Ohio Food Collective, to be used for a new 19,000-square-foot addition to its Grove City warehouse, expanding the type and quantities of food distributed to residents in need.

$5 million for area nonprofit groups, with grants to be awarded up to $50,000 and targeted, in part, to those groups providing services in qualified census tracts, meeting lower household income requirements.

$3 million in tourism, travel and hospitality aid to Huntington Park and the Columbus Clippers, the Triple-A minor league baseball affiliate of the Cleveland Indians. The Clippers are a nonprofit entity owned by the county.

$2.5 million for a new Women Back to Work program, including job training and other support and services to help women who are out of work, many because of the ongoing pandemic.

Nearly $2.4 million to the Columbus Urban Leagueto support workforce programs, helping out-of-work residents complete training and land full-time jobs.

Nearly $1.3 million to the Franklin County Convention Facilities Authority for safety and health improvements at Nationwide Arena and the Greater Columbus Convention Centerto prevent the spread of coronavirus and other airborne diseases.

All of the allocations require detailed reporting to the U.S. Department of the Treasury to ensure the funds are being spent appropriately. County Administrator Kenneth Wilson said the county also is closely tracking whether the funds are having the desired outcome in the community.

We want to know what your results are, because this is a generational amount of federal dollars going into the economies across the nation, Wilsonsaid. In the end, we want to be identified as one of the local governments that made the most-effective use of (federal COVID relief funds)by being innovative and also being accountable in benefitting the community in both the short- and long-term.

In July, the commissioners hosted a public hearing and accepted written and other comments from residents about how the federal funds should be spent.

What havent I heard? OGrady said about ideas that have been provided to date. Everybody has their thoughts … everybodys in need …. Weve been listening to everybody, working with everybody.

Commissioner Kevin Boyce said there have been a lot of good ideas, but county officials are working to ensure the federal funds are used as intended, to assist in rebounding from the coronavirus pandemic.

Were thinking of projects and ways to use those resources that are directly related to the pandemic, from job creation to initiatives that allow people access to training and other resources, he said.

Commissioner Erica Crawley said she wants to make sure that some of the federal funding helps address health-equity issues, including ensuring all residents have access to coronavirus testing and vaccinations and safe places to quarantine if exposed to the virus, and making sure we have transportation available to get them to the doctors or get them tovaccinations.

OGradys priorities include outlays for expansions of affordable housing and broadband access throughout the county.

On housing, the commissioners have allocated federal coronavirus relief for rental assistance, and theyre planning to commit Rescue Plan Act funding for the construction of new affordable housing units.

How much were going to do? Were still working on that number, but it will be significant, OGrady said.

He separately added that, Peoples lives have been turned upside down, not just because of COVID and the impact of the disease, but its also had a major financial impact on peoples lives. Affordable housing is a gigantic need in this community, and its become an ever-growing need because of the financial impact that (COVID-19) had on peoples lives.

Deputy County Administrator Erik Janas said planned allocations willbolster the countys magnet fund, an affordable housing initiative unveiled in 2019 that helps to leverage tax credits and make new construction projects more feasible. The federal funding could help fund the construction of hundreds of additional housing units, plus support housing repair programs and other assistance efforts, he said.

We know that housing was already tight and housing was already expensive before the pandemic, said Tyler Lowry, the commissioners spokesman. Its only gotten worse since then. You cant help people recover if they dont have a place to live that is safe and secure and close to resources, close to jobs and close to good schools.

O'Grady said the pandemic also spotlighted digital inequities residents in parts of the county dont enjoy the same online access as others.

The need has always been there, he said. Theres parts of this community where there are kids who were sent home with Chromebooks that had no ability to be able to access because they didnt have Wi-Fiat home. … Where are they going to do their homework and have the ability to be able to access the internet?

Ultimately, all of the federal funding has to go to efforts to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Boyce regularly questions recipients of funds on whether they have plans for covering costs of the efforts when pandemic relief is exhausted.

Those funds can help infuse some new initiatives and maybe spur some ideas, maybe even leverage those resources for other funding from the private sector or other layers of government, Boyce said. But, for now, we have to be thoughtful about our future, too, and make sure if we use those funds that the expectation isnt that were going to be funding from the general fund in the future.

Crawley agreed, saying that it is important in allocating federal COVID relief funds the commissioners "arent setting up organizations to implement new programs that they wont be able to sustain later on. We do not want to put organizations in a situation where we are helping to fund something that the county commissioners will be on the hook for later."

mkovac@dispatch.com

@OhioCapitalBlog

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Franklin County says jobs, housing, broadband among priorities for $256M in COVID relief - The Columbus Dispatch