City Council looks to disburse $7.4 million from ARPA for affordable housing

City Council on Tuesday unveiled legislation that would allocate $7.4 million to nine local organizations to build or renovate affordable housing, advancing one of City Hall’s top policy priorities.

The bill is on the agenda to be introduced at City Council’s next meeting, which was moved from Tuesday to Monday so as not to conflict with Election Day. That would set up a vote at council’s second meeting of the month on Nov. 22.

The money would contribute toward the construction of 85 new units and the preservation of another 443 units. The funding would come from Lancaster’s American Rescue Plan Act allocation.

Last year, City Council passed a bill reserving $5 million from ARPA for affordable housing, the largest such allocation in city history. It immediately spent just under $1 million of that to buy a property on Marietta Avenue near the St. Joseph hospital campus for development by the nonprofit HDC MidAtlantic.

The bill discussed Tuesday would spend the remaining $4 million and reserve another $5 million from ARPA for affordable housing. It would spend $3.4 million of that, for a total of $7.4 million, or $8.4 million with the inclusion of the Marietta Avenue purchase.