Atlanta sending back $10M in federal COVID-19 relief funds
By Madeline Montgomery
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ATLANTA, Georgia (WANF) — It’s no secret that affordable housing has been hard to come by in Atlanta. That’s why it’s surprising to hear that the city is sending $10 million back to the federal government that was supposed to help people with housing.
With the rising housing costs on top of Covid layoffs, people are angry that the money is going back while others are still being kicked out of their homes. Even Atlanta city council members are upset that the money wasn’t used for affordable housing or some kind of relief for people who have been struggling.
The money was from federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Atlanta Chief Financial Officer Mohamed Balla says the city distributed more than $50 million of the funds and helped roughly 12,000 households since 2020.
Last March, the state reallocated an extra $21 million to the city which had to be used within nine months. They used $11 million of those funds to help people in Atlanta but ran out of time before using the rest of the money.
Balla says the time constraints, Covid-specific requirements, and a slight “decreased level of interest” are what led to the leftover money.
The good news is there is a second emergency rental assistance program the city has access to until 2025 and it doesn’t have to be specifically tied into Covid. City leaders are now looking into how those funds can be spent.
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