Council repeals Urban Homestead Board, moves remaining ARPA funds into housing rehab

The Saint Joseph City Council voted to repeal the Urban Homestead Board and reallocate remaining ARPA funds to the city’s housing rehabilitation program after staff said statutory restrictions and low program interest limited the board’s effectiveness.

Brian (last name not specified), a city staff member, told council that $2,000,000 in ARPA funds had been set aside for the Urban Homestead initiative and that those dollars were intended to serve two purposes: about $1,000,000 for rehabilitation grants to homeowners and about $1,000,000 for a traditional urban homestead program in which the board would purchase, rehabilitate and resell houses to owner-occupants. “The state grants the authority to create this board,” Brian said, but added state law included a requirement that the board could only give a grant on houses it had sold, limiting the board’s ability to award repair grants to owners who had not been through the board’s purchase process.

Brian said the rehabilitation grant arm of the program had been administered in-house and functioned, but the second arm—home acquisition and resale—proved difficult because of COVID-era residency eligibility limits, income limitations, and low interest among potential buyers. He told council the city will move the remaining funds, roughly $850,000, into the ongoing housing rehabilitation program to be used for repairs such as roofs, windows and HVAC units.

Council member Jim (last name not specified) and others pressed for clarity on ARPA timelines and the city’s process for contracting funds. City staff and the mayor emphasized ARPA spending rules: funds must be under contract by the end of the current year or risk being lost, and staff said the finance department will provide a report in June on spent and committed ARPA funds and will prioritize getting remaining dollars under contract before October.

Council approved the ordinance repeal and the fund reallocation (vote announced 9-0). City staff said the Urban Homestead Board could be re-created later if conditions change.

Next steps: staff will process existing contracts tied to the Urban Homestead funding, move the remainder to the housing rehabilitation program, and publish an ARPA status report to council in June.