State Senate Releases ARPA Spending Plan Proposal with $600 Million for Affordable Housing
On November 3, 2021, the Senate Ways and Means Committee and other House leaders released a $3.67 billion plan for spending a majority of the state’s federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) fiscal recovery funding.
CHAPA thanks Chairman Rodrigues and the members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee for prioritizing $600 million towards affordable housing. Their housing investments are outlined below:
Affordable Housing Investments
The spending plan (S.2564) provides $600 million for supportive housing, public housing, homeownership, and affordable housing production. These investments will provide homeownership aid, housing production, and maintenance, with a focus on developing both affordable housing and supportive housing stock as a much-needed response to ongoing housing instability and homelessness.
A summary of the funding allocation breakdown is provided below:
- $150 million for Supportive Housing Production
- $150 million for Public Housing Maintenance
- $50 million for Homeownership Assistance to help first-time homebuyers
- $125 million for CommonWealth Builder Program to build new affordable homeownership opportunities
- $125 million for Affordable Housing Production
Please see the S.2564 Summary and Text for more information on the bill.
The Senate and House both included $600 million for affordable housing but included several different funding amounts for CHAPA's priorities. Please see a comparison of the spending amounts in the Senate Ways & Means, House, and Governor's proposals.
CHAPA’s ARPA Priorities
CHAPA is encouraged to see initial investments in many of our ARPA priorities in the Senate’s initial spending plan. As a reminder, CHAPA and its partners have requested $1.683 billion of the Commonwealth’s ARPA fiscal recovery funds be allocated towards affordable housing.
Please see CHAPA's ARPA Fiscal Recovery Funds Fact Sheet and testimony for more information.
There are still many priorities that need to be considered for the Commonwealth to have the tools it needs to address our housing crisis. We urge the legislature to further consider some of CHAPA’s priorities in its allocation of funding, including the following:
- $100M for Housing Rehabilitation
- $78M for a Statewide Right to Counsel Program
- $50M for Acquisition of Naturally Occurring Affordable Housing
- $5M for Tenant Outreach and Assistance
What Comes Next?
The Senate will debate S.2564 on Wednesday, November 10. Senators have until 5:00 p.m. on Friday, November 5, to file amendments. CHAPA is working with its partners on potential amendments for the spending package and will follow-up with more details soon, including steps you can take to help strengthen the spending plan for affordable housing.
Once the Senate finishes debate and passes their spending proposal, the House and Senate will work to reconcile the differences between their proposals before sending a final bill to the Governor for his signature.
CHAPA encourages our partners to continue to contact their State Senators and ask them to prioritize CHAPA’s $1.683 billion ARPA priorities for affordable housing. Please see the CHAPA ARPA Advocacy Toolkit for more details.
For any questions about these priorities, please contact Ryan Dominguez at rdominguez@chapa.org or 617-684-4713