Austin budgeted more than $40M in ARPA funding for rapid rehousing, that money is going away

AUSTIN (KXAN) -- Money the City of Austin received from the Biden administration to help deal with the blowback of the COVID-19 pandemic is running out -- and with it, will come tough decisions about what programs the city will need to cut.

We're talking about American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money.

Of the $188 million the city received in funding, the most recent expenditures report from January -- which KXAN received through a Texas Public Information Act request -- showed $104 million has not officially been spent yet, though all but $35 million has been obligated.

All of the funding has to be designated for projects by the end of this year, and all the money has to be spent by the end of 2026 for the city to keep it.

Rapid rehousing

The project the City designated the most ARPA funding to was rapid rehousing. According to those ARPA expenditure reports, roughly $42.5 million has been budgeted for rapid rehousing. Of that, $38 million has been obligated and $12.7 million has already been spent, as of January 1.

Alfredo Reyes Jr., and his partner Derek Cortez, are two of the Austinites who have benefited from rapid rehousing over the past few months. The uncertainty of what happens when the funding runs out, is hugely stressful for them.

"I'm in panic mode. I'm very concerned. I'm very concerned. There's not a day that I go to sleep not thinking about it," Reyes said.

Vocal Texas, a group that works on various homelessness issues, surveyed dozens of people who have been in, or are in, rapid rehousing. They say of those people, they found many either didn't know where they were going to go when they were cut off after roughly a year -- or had already returned to homelessness.

"It's real tough. I just wish… our case manager was just throwing us places, 'hey, just apply here.' And my concern was, 'how much is the rent?' Because you're not paying it after a year," Cortez said.

Other homelessness funding

Overall, the City of Austin earmarked more than $100 million in ARPA funding for various efforts to address homelessness, including:

• Homeless rapid rehousing: $42.5m
• Homelessness emergency shelters and crisis response: $25m
• Homeless permanent housing capital expense: $11m
• Homelessness supporting providers: $2m

"I'm hopeful about the future, even with the ARPA fiscal cliff, the fact that we have great partners at the table including ECHO, the fact that we have a council that's willing to prioritize homelessness," Austin's homeless strategy officer, David Gray, said.