Chicago will receive $1.1 billion in federal CARES Act funding to deal with coronavirus-related expenses, though Mayor Lori Lightfoot called for Congress to pass another stimulus package aimed at the country’s cities.
“We are all hurting and we have got to get relief,” Lightfoot said on a Monday conference call with reporters.
“The magnitude of the problems and the challenges that we all face is such that only the federal government has the resources and the wherewithal to act at a scale that’ll make a meaningful difference,” Lightfoot said. “Without that, we are looking at a lot of really, really difficult or impossible choices.”
While laying out the city’s financial woes, Lightfoot reiterated her reluctance to lay off city workers, which she has called a last resort along with property tax hikes. Later, Lightfoot administration officials said the city doesn’t have “imminent” borrowing plans and that the shortfall for 2021 could be more than $1 billion.
About 54% of the CARES Act money — $613 million — has to go toward specific expenses, while the city has more discretion to spend the other 46% as it chooses.
Here’s how some of the $1.1 billion in federal funding breaks down, according to City Hall:
$189 million to help cover the city’s public health response, including contact tracing and laboratory testing.
$376 million for airports, with O’Hare getting $294 million and Midway receiving $82 million. It was not immediately clear what that money will be spent on.
$39 million for homeless services, $35 million for small business assistance, $16.5 million for housing assistance.
$10 million each for workforce assistance, violence prevention street outreach programs, and mental health programs.
$4 million for the Auburn Gresham Community Health Hub and $7 million for the North Lawndale Surgical and Ambulatory Care Center.
$10.5 million for senior assistance, $1.5 million for housing for people living with AIDS and $207,000 for the domestic violence hotline.
$4.5 million for emergency food assistance and $5 million on broadband internet access for students who don’t have it.
$40 million for a potential summer and fall resurgence of the disease, $30 million from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and $340.5 million in direct COVID-19 response costs.
City officials laid out the expected funding as Chicago continued its cautious reopening of local businesses amid widespread protests following George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Chicago eased restaurant restrictions by allowing outdoor dining and let personal services like barbershops resume work. Public health commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady told reporters there have been continued declines in new coronavirus cases, hospitalizations and the percentage of people who take tests reporting positive, but warned about the possibility of increased cases.
“The real question, though, will be what happens with this data over the next (two weeks),” Arwady said. “Obviously, we saw a lot more interactions even before we had technically lifted the stay-at-home order here in Chicago.”
