DOWNTOWN — Mayor Brandon Johnson is putting $30 million more in federal pandemic relief dollars toward a revived guaranteed income program that will give more Chicagoans $500 monthly cash payments.
Johnson is also committing more money for violence prevention, rapid rehousing and other initiatives as he revamps the city’s approach to spending what remains of the $1.9 billion in pandemic financial aid the city received in 2021 under the American Rescue Plan Act.
Under federal rules, Chicago has until the end of the year to allocate the money and until 2026 to spend it. Money not spent must be returned to the federal government.
Chicago had spent about $1.3 billion of the federal funds as of the end of 2023, according to self-reported city data.
Former Mayor Lori Lightfoot used $1.2 billion of these funds to beef up Chicago’s pandemic-starved budgets from 2021-2023. That left about $575 million to be used for various community initiatives like violence prevention, youth opportunities and assistance for families.
In February, WTTW revealed the city had only spent 29 percent of the leftover federal funds as of the end of 2023. In response, Johnson committed to allocating and spending all the funds by the federal deadline.
As of March the city has allocated $342 million, spent $201 million and has yet to allocate $234 million of the remaining money, according to Annette Guzman, the city’s budget director.
Guaranteed Income Relaunches With Double The Funding
Nine city programs are getting more federal funding as city officials shift about $80 million following a three-month analysis of American Rescue Plan Act dollars, officials said Monday.
The analysis evaluated 53 programs funded through the American Rescue Plan Act, categorizing them from low to high risk. Low-risk programs have a consistent history of spending the money allocated to them. High-risk programs have inconsistent spending and barriers to starting or continuing programs, Guzman said.
“Based on our analysis, over $80 million in spending plan adjustments were made across the programs … primarily shifting away from high-risk programs into low-risk programs to ensure that all of those [American Rescue Plan Act] dollars remain in Chicago communities,” Guzman said.
The guaranteed income program, called the Chicago Resilient Communities Pilot, is getting the largest increase in funding, from $31.5 million to $63 million.
The pilot program launched in July 2022 supported 5,000 residents picked from a citywide lottery to receive $500 monthly payments for a year, according to data reported at the end of 2023.
RELATED: 5,000 Low-Income Households Get First Monthly Check From Cash Assistance Pilot
No additional details were available on the program’s relaunch, but residents should expect an announcement soon, Guzman said.
Other programs getting a funding boost include:
- The Youth Opportunities Program, increasing from $54 million to $66 million
- Rapid Rehousing Program, from $27.3 million to $32 million
- Small Business Support Program, from $20 million to $33 million
- Community Violence Intervention Program, from $16.1 million to $23 million
- Emergency Fund for Gender-Based Violence Survivors, from $5 million to $10 million
- Artist Relief and Works Fund, from $10 million to $12 million
- Mental Health Equity Initiative, from $18.2 million to $20 million
The city has discontinued two programs, Guzman said. That includes plans for a sobering center through the Chicago Department of Public Health and a low-barrier shelter program through the Department of Family Support Services.
The programs were canceled because the city was unable to find administrators to operate them, despite having active requests for proposals. Since the launch of the city’s American Rescue Plan Act programs, the city has gone from 93 to 53 active programs.
The city still needs to commit $234 million of the federal relief funds, which officials said they plan to do by the end of November.
In the meantime, the city will soon launch monthly reports to track how it’s spending the money, as well a new online dashboard to track the progress of the 53 programs.
Next steps include a special meeting called by Ald. Jason Ervin (28th), chairman of the city’s Committee on Budget and Government. Ervin’s office did not respond to questions about when that meeting will be scheduled.
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