Birmingham approves spending plan for more than $40 million of ARPA funds

The City of Birmingham announced Wednesday it has approved a new plan to spend some funds from the city's American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds allocation.

After a recommendation from Mayor Randall Woodfin, the Birmingham City Council approved the spending plan for more than $40 million from the allocation. The funds are part of the more than $140 million the city received from the U.S. Department of Treasury. The city said the money will be used for an affordable housing trust fund, blight removal, healthy food initiatives, grant matches, and other projects.

“These dollars will be transformational for our city,” said Birmingham Mayor Woodfin. “Thanks to the support of our city council, we will be able to further build up our communities and support our residents and businesses in a number of ways.”

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The allocations include the following:

• $7,128,048 for competitive grant matches to secure additional resources for the city
• $3,946,772 for administrative costs to retain an experienced consulting firm to provide the support required to ensure compliance with federal regulations while maximizing beneficial uses of ARPA dollars in the city
• $10,000,000 for an affordable housing trust fund that would allow for the long-term planning and implementation of efforts to leverage city, federal, corporate and philanthropic funding to continue and accelerate the construction of new housing across Birmingham
• $1,000,000 for healthy food initiatives to remove barriers to food access, advance equity, and build capacity through strategic investments in Birmingham’s local food system
• $15,000,000 for an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system that will modernize and integrate many of the city's business processes and systems
• $3,700,000 to support the demolition of blighted properties at the Carraway redevelopment site to make way for affordable and other quality housing

“This is another step in a positive direction,” Woodfin said. “I grew up in North Birmingham and was born in Carraway. Knowing there has been 30-plus years of disinvestment and under investment in the north corridor, this plan for progress is very exciting.”

To date, funds have been expended to support new and existing small businesses, build new affordable homes, support redevelopment projects, complete the Birmingham Xpress bus rapid transit line, continue MAX-Transit bus service, extend Via microtransit, support City of Birmingham employees for their continued service during the pandemic, and invest in City Council districts.