Furnaces, roofs and windows.
These three needs — at the exclusion of other upkeep — are becoming isolated mainstays of Saginaw’s federally funded housing and neighborhood improvement efforts.
This is proposed to be reinforced during Monday’s City Council session, which will include a review of the $52 million though ARPA, the 2021 American Rescue Plan Act, intended for aid in local recovery from the covid pandemic.
Council members last winter supported a $7.8 million share for housing — $4 million to recycle in loan funds for overall repairs, and $3.8 million in grants for the trio of specific items. Loans basically were aimed for low-income households, grants for the neediest among the needy.
However, Budget Director Yolanda Bland reports: “The City has determined that establishing a housing revolving loan fund would not be feasible under existing ARPA guidelines and time constraints. At the same meeting, City Council approved the allocation of $3,800,000 to the Saginaw Home Rehabilitation Program wherein ARPA funds were to be utilized to improve residential owner-occupied dwellings by providing new roofs, furnaces, and windows. This program has been very successful and the original $3.8 million allocation will be exhausted without fulfilling the needs of the qualified applicants.”
Therefore, the proposal is to re-program the $4 million and to combine that sum with the $3.8 million.
This continues a major policy shift that council members have barely discussed and may not even fully realize. Past city leaders denied single-item fixups unless the property was fully repaired and brought up to code, on the principle of preventing wasted spending. As Mayor Brenda Moore asked, what if a new furnace is installed, only to be ruined by rainfall through a leaky roof?
However, the outlook changed to emergency relief when the new effort started with furnaces during the middle of winter’s cold. The premise was that even if someone’s home remained below standards, at least they had heat inside.
Beyond housing, a top ARPA priority has been to balance the cash-strapped general fund budget, although rules prevent bringing back more police officers and/or firefighters. Therefore, the city continues to rely on state police backup and the southeast quadrant lacks a fire station with the closing of the Hess structure.
Other main ARPA items are for infrastructure (Hoyt Park, Ojibway Island, the cemeteries and City Hall itself), and for community centers and various youth programs. Some applicants who originally were denied are appealing again, such as Mission in the City, while others who received funds are pursuing more, especially Women of Colors and the Saginaw County CAC.
Mystery continues
Another $5 million is reserved to help pay for a $50 million “behavior health center” that would expand “medical corridor” links with the Central Michigan University College of Medicine. and reaffirm Saginaw as a regional medical hub. These funds would be combined with other ARPA sources, $5 million from the County Board and $30 million from the state Legislature.
In spite of all the funds, the project supporters — Chamber of Commerce, Saginaw Future and Dr. Sam Shaheen — continue to assert that NDA’s, or non-disclosure agreements, prevent them from providing more info during negotiations. One of their points was that to identify the proposed site could drive up the acquisition price. However, multiple sources have revealed the location as the 500 block of South Washington, where the farmer’s market was located prior to moving three blocks north to SVRC Marketplace. The vacant tax-reverted land at Washington and Millard is city-owned, and so the NDA premise is that the City Council might inflate the market price.
Mayor Brenda Moore has stated that after two years, it’s “past due” for the developers to more fully share the details. She has received backing from Joyce Seals, the school board trustee and former mayor who now chairs the countywide Health Equity Council, and from Pastor Hurley Coleman Jr., a leader on the council’s ARPA Advisory Committee. Moore has not pushed the point so far during any of the prior ARPA reviews.
Beyond ARPA
The $52 million for Saginaw, along with other communities across the nation, is a record-setting one-time ARPA sum in federal aid, which is why civic leaders have described the windfall as potentially “transformational” if Saginaw is to recover from the manufacturing and auto industry decline. For comparison, the annual Community Development Block Grant is less than $3 million.
Among smaller sources is the HOME Investment Partnership Program. For this decade’s 10-year plan, Monday’s intertwined recommendation is:
- Saginaw Habitat for Humanity, $762,000 for acquisition and rehabilitation of vacant, abandoned, or foreclosed houses to be used for rental for families or individuals leaving a homeless shelter.
- Saginaw County Youth Protection Council, $363,000, to support “rapid rehousing” that will provide rental assistance and supportive services for homeless youth and homeless young families.
- Rescue Ministries of Mid-Michigan, $338,000 to rehabilitate or build new rental properties for individuals requiring low-income assistance to housing access and provide supportive services.
In addition to in-person attendance, City Council meetings may be viewed on Spectrum Cable 191 or through the website, saginaw-mi.com. To view a copy of the agenda, click here.
