Portland will soon begin distributing a pot of $114 million in federal COVID-19 relief money to provide support for renters, small businesses and other sectors hit hardest by the financial fallout of the pandemic.
For more than two months, the city had been working to figure out how to best distribute the dollars provided by the federal government under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, commonly known as the CARES Act. The city had created a task force charged with determining the best way to distribute the funds. The City Council took its final vote on the plan Wednesday.
The ordinance saw an expected no vote by Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, who had said she believes the proposal didn’t do enough to put cash directly in the hands of Portlanders most in need. After the council met last week, she put out a statement saying her highest priority was to reduce evictions during the pandemic, and that the current proposal didn’t go far enough to keep Portlanders in their homes.
“I want to be clear: In my mind, we have people that are in desperate need of resources,” she said Wednesday. “And I don’t believe that we did the best job that we could of making sure that people would benefit from these limited dollars that we have.”
The final distribution, approved by the rest of the council, puts $32 million toward rent assistance, mortgage counseling to help Portlanders avoid foreclosure and direct cash assistance. Another $15 million will go toward grant programs that support small businesses.
Commissioner Chloe Eudaly said she believes that while this money was not going directly into the hands of workers, it would ultimately find its way there as many Portlanders are employed by local businesses.
“While you might not consider relief to a business direct support, it is that person’s livelihood. And we have thousands of small business owners who are on the verge of losing their business, losing their livelihoods, losing their homes,” she said.
The city will also provide $5 million to cities in Multnomah County that did not receive any federal relief funds, $3.5 million to provide internet access and laptops for Portlanders, $4 million toward supporting artists and cultural facilities in the city and $16.5 million for the Joint Office of Homeless Services to respond to COVID-19.
The city has said it expects CARES Act funds will start to be disbursed by mid-August, and that money going toward household assistance and housing stability will be prioritized.
In remarks before the vote, Mayor Ted Wheeler acknowledged the funding was merely a Band-Aid.
“The funds we have here are not sufficient. We are not solving problems,” he said. “This is truly emergency support that will get us through this phase of the COVID crisis, but this can’t be the end.”