Update January 7th

The Center for Community Progress issued a press release regarding the U.S. Treasury Department’s Final Ruling clarifying that ARPA funds may be used by communities to address vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties in multiple ways.

For more information, please click here.

The Center for Community Progress has created a new resource page focused on ARPA funds and its application toward blight mitigation etc.
Newly added are ARPA One Pagers, Progress Points by topic:

To access the Resource Page, please click here.

Additionally, a recent blog post by Danielle Lewinski and Rob Finn discusses and provides examples of how some communities are utilizing these funds in the aforementioned categories, along with other available tools.

Examples include;

Neighborhood Markets and Data Systems
Syracuse, NY proposed to use ARPA funds for a housing market study that would analyze vacant structures and housing market conditions and trends and to invest in advanced technology for housing inspectors to detect lead hazards.

Detroit, MI will be using $4 million in ARPA funding to create a web-based portal that uses City data and property information to navigate residents to tax foreclosure prevention, home repair, eviction prevention, and other assistance. And the City will be creating a centralized intake and client management system for housing services.

Strategic, Equitable Code Enforcement
St. Louis, MO is investing $15 million in a home repair fund for low-income owners.

Detroit, MI is using ARPA funds to provide free home repair services, beginning with roof repairs, to qualified homeowners.

Syracuse, NY proposed to use $4.5 million of ARPA funds to invest in advanced technology for housing inspectors to detect lead and to remediate lead hazards.

Property Tax Relief and Enforcement
Orange County, NC is using ARPA funding to pilot their Longtime Homeowner Assistance program, which reduces tax bills for lower income residents that have lived in their property for over 10 years.

Detroit, MI proposed to use $3 million to support a program that helps low-income renters and owners avoid tax-foreclosure related displacement.

Gwinnett County, GA is using $1.5 million to waive fees for paying property taxes online.

Binghamton, NY is using $2 million to partner with their county land bank on the rehabilitation of tax foreclosed properties for affordable housing.

Land Banks
In Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh’s land bank will be using $10 million to address vacant properties and Altoona has proposed to dedicate $5 million to its land bank with $2 million for a revolving loan fund.

The Central IL Land Bank is looking to use ARPA funding to create an owner-occupied rehabilitation program.

Syracuse, NY is investing $5 million in the Greater Syracuse Land Bank to stabilize or demolish vacant structures.

Rome, GA is planning to allocate $1 million to its land bank for housing rehabilitation and new construction.

Vacant Land Stewardship
Chicago, IL dedicated significant portions of its ARPA funding to vacant lot reduction strategies, urban agriculture, expansion of tree canopy, green infrastructure projects, and vacant lot environmental assessments.

Baton Rouge, LA is planning to use over $2 million ARPA funding to help address vacant properties including cleaning up vacant lots.

Houston, TX will clean up illegal dumping throughout the city with $1.5 million in ARPA funding.

To view the blog posting in its entirety, please click here.

The 2021 American Association of Code Enforcement (AACE) Conference featured several awards and recognition.

The Innovative Code Department Award was awarded to the City of Round Rock, TX and the Code Officer of the Year to their Code Enforcement Manager Margie Lopez.

Their programs include;

For more information on their programs. please click here.

For a profile of Margie Lopez, please click here.