KALAMAZOO, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – More than four years ago, President Joe Biden authorized spending $1.9 trillion with the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) to give Americans “a fighting chance” against COVID-19 due to government shutdowns.

When Congress passed the spending bill in March 2021, the U.S. Department of Treasury said ARPA would “deliver immediate economic relief to families.”

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Yet municipalities across Michigan have strayed from that original vision and spent money on projects that have nothing to do with recovering from the pandemic.

The most recent example is the city of Kalamazoo using federal pandemic money to address affordable housing.

The city of Kalamazoo has approved $1.7 million in federal emergency COVID-19 money to be given to a nonprofit for two separate projects. They approved $1 million to the nonprofit Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services, Inc. so it can rehabilitate 14 single-family homes. Those 14 homes would then be sold to low-or-moderate families.

In addition, the city approved giving another $770,000 to Kalamazoo Neighborhood Housing Services to construct eight new homes that would be sold to low-income families.