San Antonio has more than $29 million left of a $50 million federally-funded account set aside for coronavirus pandemic-related emergencies. As the threat of COVID dwindles, city officials are now looking to spend that money on short-term housing for people experiencing homelessness as well as preparing for more broad emergencies in the future.
Council will decide how to spend the money as part of the city’s budget process, which will come to a vote in September.
During a Wednesday briefing about how the city allocated its American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds, most council members were largely receptive to city staff’s recommended uses of the remaining ARPA funding: nearly $16 million for two former motels to serve as shelters for chronically homeless individuals and nearly $14 million on “emergency preparedness” to include shoring up supplies and equipment for times of need.
In 2021, the city started leasing a Days Inn motel downtown to accommodate a low-barrier homeless shelter which is operated by SAMMinistries, a nonprofit aimed at helping and housing the unhoused population. Low-barrier means there are no rules for residents regarding sobriety, though alcohol and drugs are not permitted onsite and there are rules regarding behavior. Case management services encourage residents to seek treatment for drug and mental health issues and connect them to other services such as ID recovery.
Over the last 18 months, SAMMinitries has served about 280 people at the 45-bed motel, said Melody Woosley, director of the city’s Department of Human Services.
About 25% have moved into permanent housing, Woosley said, less than the 40% initially projected.
“The chronically homeless population is the toughest group” to get to accept services, Woosley said. “Many of them do go back to the street the first time, maybe the second time — and then maybe the third time it sticks.”
The new funding would extend the Days Inn lease for another two years and allow the city to lease another property with about 80-90 beds. That property has yet to be identified.
That would allow the two low-barrier shorter-term shelters to serve about 600 people over the next two years, while more permanent supportive housing units start opening their doors.
The emergency preparedness batch of funding would be allocated to acquiring generators and enhancements to the city’s Emergency Operations Center ($8.9 million), other equipment such as bleeding control kits and a mobile air conditioning unit ($3.1 million) and stocking up on water and other supplies for Resilience Hubs spread across the city.
When council approved the city’s initial spending framework for ARPA funding in February 2022, “there was a discussion that whatever money was left over in the emergency response, we will use that for emergency preparedness,” Deputy City Manager María Villagómez said.
Of the nearly $327 million the city received through ARPA, $50 million was set aside for pandemic-related emergency responses in case of COVID surges that required more vaccines, personal protection equipment, staff or other needs. Most of the other ARPA dollars have already been spent or allocated to programs or agencies that support youth, seniors, housing, mental health, arts, education, airport operations, small businesses and other social and economic needs in the wake of the pandemic.
As for what’s left besides the emergency response funds, Council will vote next Thursday on several contracts totaling $5.1 million which would fund agencies that focus on mental health and nonprofit social, youth and senior services. This represents the second round of ARPA funding targeting these populations, council approved about $36 million in February during the first round.
While $1 million was set aside for domestic violence prevention and survivor services, as previously requested by Councilman Manny Pelaez (D8), none of the applications for that funding met the city’s standards, city officials said.
City staff recommended that the money still be used for domestic violence mitigation, but allocated through an existing delegate agency process within the city’s budget.
