CITY OF SEATTLE

ORDINANCE __________________

COUNCIL BILL __________________

AN ORDINANCE related to the City’s response to the COVID-19 crisis; amending Ordinance 126237, which adopted the 2021 Budget, including the 2021-2026 Capital Improvement Program (CIP); accepting funding from non-City sources; changing appropriations to various departments and budget control levels, and from various funds in the 2021 Budget; revising project allocations for certain projects in the 2021-2026 CIP; imposing provisos; and ratifying and confirming certain prior acts.

WHEREAS, the World Health Organization (WHO) has declared that the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global pandemic, which is particularly severe in high-risk populations such as people with underlying medical conditions and the elderly, and the WHO has raised the health emergency to the highest level requiring dramatic interventions to disrupt the spread of this disease; and

WHEREAS, on February 29, 2020, the Washington Governor issued Proclamation 20-05, proclaiming a state of emergency for all counties throughout the state of Washington in response to new cases of COVID-19; and

WHEREAS, in response to outbreaks of COVID-19 in Seattle, Mayor Jenny Durkan proclaimed a civil emergency exists in Seattle in the Mayoral Proclamation of Civil Emergency dated March 3, 2020; and

WHEREAS, on March 5, 2020, the City Council adopted Resolution 31937 affirming the civil emergency, modifying orders transmitted by the Mayor related to the emergency, and establishing Council’s expectations related to future orders and reporting by the Mayor during the civil emergency; and

WHEREAS, on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization announced that COVID-19 is officially a global pandemic; and

WHEREAS, on March 13, 2020, the President of the United States declared a national state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic; and

WHEREAS, on March 23, 2020, the Governor issued a “Stay Home, Stay Healthy” order, which, combined with other measures taken to prevent the transmission of COVID-19, effectively closed many businesses in the state of Washington; and

WHEREAS, the immediate economic impacts from the COVID-19 emergency have been drastic and are expected to last much longer than the civil emergency itself; and

WHEREAS, local companies have reported laying off employees, experiencing substantial revenue losses, dealing with lost business due to fear and stigma, and seeing major declines in foot traffic as tens of thousands of employees are being asked to work from home; and

WHEREAS, these impacts are being felt across all industry sectors, including retail, restaurant, hospitality, transportation, logistics, arts, and culture; and

WHEREAS, at the end of August 2020, over 3,000 businesses in the Seattle metropolitan area were closed, with an estimated 59 percent of those closures being permanent, and over 32,700 people in Seattle were unemployed; and

WHEREAS, the COVID-19 pandemic has created a grave economic crisis. People in our community have been laid off or have had their work hours reduced, and many people are struggling to feed and house their families. Social services are strained, given the increased demand for resources. Businesses are struggling to pay their employees and cover operating costs; and

WHEREAS, many people and businesses in Seattle continue to be impacted by COVID-19 and the measures taken to prevent its spread, which resulted in unemployment, housing insecurity, and food insecurity; and

WHEREAS, on March 10, 2021, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021, providing $1.9 trillion in pandemic relief; and

WHEREAS, the City has received $28.7 million in 2021 from the ARPA Emergency Rental Assistance 2 grant authorized by the U.S. Congress to provide rent and utility assistance; and

WHEREAS, the City has received $7.8 million in 2021 from the ARPA Older Americans Act grant authorized by the U.S. Congress to provide seniors’ supportive services, including addressing social isolation; and

WHEREAS, the City has received $10.9 million in 2021 from the ARPA Federal Transit Administration Small Starts Projects grant authorized by the U.S. Congress to fund fixed guideway and bus rapid transit systems; and

WHEREAS, the City has received $2.1 million in 2021 from the ARPA Small Business Administration Shuttered Venue Operators grant authorized by the U.S. Congress to provide economic aid to shuttered venues such as performing arts organizations, theaters, movie theaters, and museums; and

WHEREAS, the City has also received $2.6 million in 2021 from the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act (CRRSA) Federal Transit Administration Supplemental Public Transportation Urbanized Area Apportionment grant authorized by the U.S. Congress to provide operating and maintenance aid to public transportation agencies; NOW, THEREFORE,

BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY OF SEATTLE AS FOLLOWS:

Section 1. The Mayor or the Mayor’s designee is authorized to accept the following non-City funding from the grantors listed below, and to execute, deliver, and perform, on behalf of The City of Seattle, agreements for the purposes described below. The funds, when received, shall be deposited in the receiving funds identified below.

Section 2. Contingent upon the execution of the grants or other funding agreements authorized in Section 1 of this ordinance, the appropriations for the following items in the 2021 Budget are increased from the funds shown, as follows:

Unspent funds so appropriated shall carry forward to subsequent fiscal years until they are exhausted or abandoned by ordinance.

Section 3. The appropriations for the following items in the 2021 Adopted Budget and project allocations in the 2021-2026 Adopted Capital Improvement Program are modified as follows:

These modifications shall operate for the purposes of decreasing or increasing the bases for the limit imposed by subsection 4(c) of Ordinance 126237.

Section 4. Statement of intent. By establishing this Section 4, the Council and the Mayor express their policy intent to prioritize use of federal funds from the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 and the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, to maintain programs and services that support the City’s public health response; provide critical resources to those disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and other communities of color, immigrants, the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) community, women, low-income households, people experiencing homelessness or housing insecurity, and people who work in the creative economy. The following policy intent shall guide the expenditures authorized in Sections 2 and 3 of this ordinance:

A. Section 2, items 2.1 and 2.2: $28,730,963 is allocated to Office of Housing for rental assistance and homelessness prevention services. Funds will be used as follows:

1. $9,576,988 from item 2.1 will be used to contract with community based agencies that have an established track record of serving communities that 1) have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and 2) have a disproportionate need for rental assistance; and that have experience in managing rent assistance and/or homeless prevention dollars particularly during the current COVID-19 public health emergency for the purposes of rent assistance and other housing related costs including internet services, homelessness prevention services, and associated administration costs.

2. $9,576,988 from item 2.1 will be distributed via a subaward as a subrecipient to United Way of King County for the purposes of rent assistance, homelessness prevention services, and associated administration costs, and may be spent for no other purpose. The Office of Housing, in cooperation with United Way, will do proactive outreach to landlords who may be struggling with mortgage debt, regarding availability of rental assistance funding.

3. $8,190,439 from item 2.1 and $1,386,548 from item 2.2 will be appropriated to the Office of Housing for the purposes of rent assistance, homelessness prevention services, and associated administration costs, for publicly-subsidized rent- and income-restricted affordable housing units.

B. Section 2, items 2.3, 2.4, and 2.5: $7,752,975 is allocated to the Human Services Department for senior services, including supportive services, congregate meals, home delivered meals, preventative health services, and support for family caregivers. Supportive services will include programs to address the mental health impacts of social isolation in seniors. Funding for congregate meal programs and meal delivery should be distributed to providers in such a way as to allow for hybrid programs which provide both services.

Section 5. This ordinance imposes a proviso, as follows:

“Of the appropriation in the 2021 budget for the Human Services Department Promoting Healthy Aging (BO-HS-H6000) Budget Summary Level, $200,000 of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Older Americans Act Grant funds are appropriated solely for services to address the mental health impacts of senior isolation unless forthcoming federal and state funding requirements conflict with the spending restrictions imposed by this proviso. The Council requests that any final contract governing the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Older Americans Act Grant funds and a spending plan for these funds be submitted to the Chair of the Public Safety and Human Services committee before the transmittal of the 2022 Proposed Budget.”

Section 6. Any act consistent with the authority of this ordinance taken after its passage and prior to its effective date is ratified and confirmed.

Section 7. This ordinance shall take effect and be in force 30 days after its approval by the Mayor, but if not approved and returned by the Mayor within ten days after presentation, it shall take effect as provided by Seattle Municipal Code Section 1.04.020.

Passed by the City Council the ________ day of _________________________, 2021, and signed by me in open session in authentication of its passage this _____ day of _________________________, 2021.

____________________________________

President ____________ of the City Council

Approved / returned unsigned / vetoed this ________ day of _________________, 2021.

____________________________________

Jenny A. Durkan, Mayor

Filed by me this ________ day of _________________________, 2021.

____________________________________

Monica Martinez Simmons, City Clerk

(Seal)