ARPA

Salem is the latest Massachusetts city to try to stabilize the lives of some of its lowest-income residents by providing monthly cash payments, with no strings attached.

Worcester must decide by the end of the year how it will spend its remaining $44.3 million in federal pandemic relief money. With that deadline looming, some local nonprofit leaders are criticizing the city for inequitably dispersing some of the money in prior grant rounds — and urging officials to do better.

City officials gathered at the site of a newly built affordable two-family home in Mattapan Friday to announce a $60 million investment of federal funds to help moderate- and low-income families buy homes in Boston as part of the Welcome Home Boston initiative.

Last week, tenant organizers celebrating the acquisition of a multifamily home by the Boston Neighborhood Community Land Trust came together to announce that their work is not done — they are now asking that city and state officials use federal ARPA funds to continue purchasing area homes to be preserved as permanent affordable housing.

With both the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the state Senate having passed their spending plans for federal American Rescue Plan (ARPA) funds, advocates are left disappointed in the lack of investment into Black-owned and other minority-owned businesses in the wake of coronavirus economic fallout.

The Massachusetts House of Representatives voted last week to approve HB 4219 — a comprehensive $3.82 billion spending plan aimed at aiding industries and individuals impacted by COVID-19.

As her tenure nears an end, acting Mayor Kim Janey is looking to bring relief to homeowners most at risk of losing their homes. Her new $5 million “Emergency Foreclosure Prevention Fund” is now open for income-eligible residents to apply.