City and County of Honolulu to receive half of its $365 million federal funds by early May

The City and County of Honolulu will receive half of its $365 million from the $1.9 trillion federal American Rescue Plan by May 10. The city will receive the other half of the funds one year later.

U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz explained that the city can use the funds from the new stimulus package to make up for lost tax revenue, which last year’s CARES Act did not allow for.

“These funds can help to make up for lost tax revenue and keep city workers and city services available,” he said.

The Hawaii congressional delegation briefed City Council members Monday about the American Rescue Plan and the development of a federal infrastructure package.

Beyond the federal funds from the American Rescue Plan coming directly to the city, U.S. Rep. Ed Case emphasized the need for the Council to supervise other programs that are receiving funds and ensure that the money is being distributed to people in need.

“You have many programs where funding is being provided to those particular programs in terms of COVID-19 relief,” he said.

“Housing would be one of those areas. … That’s the responsibility of the City and County of Honolulu at the end of the day, to decide where that money goes and under what conditions. That’s a critical part of your oversight responsibilities.”

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is expected to release details on a federal infrastructure plan Wednesday.

Councilwoman Esther Kia‘aina asked Schatz whether funding for infrastructure to build affordable housing would be considered in the federal package. Infrastructure, along with land, is one of the biggest expenses for developers. Kia‘aina, along with other Council members such as Tommy Waters and Radiant Cordero, were interested in ways to develop affordable housing on city land.

Schatz assured the Council that the concept of creating housing was being considered as part of the infrastructure package.

“It seems to me the most highly leveraged money coming from the government is if you lay down a sewer line, or solve one of those big infrastructure problems, and then just permit developers to build in those areas that are designated for that purpose,” he said.

“That’s something that I’d be happy to pursue and work with you all on.”

Case said the projects that would receive federal funding, if the infrastructure package is passed, are ones that are longer-term. That is why he urged the city to develop a plan.

“These projects will be larger projects, longer-term projects where we really need a longer-term plan to direct federal funding at, from the delegation over a long period of time,” he said.

“Where it’s not just kind of an ad hoc, ‘Hey, here’s this money for this year, but we’re not really sure where we’re going on this particular area.’ I don’t think that’s going to work for some of our larger challenges. The primary challenge I see in this department is coastline resiliency.”

Case pointed to sea level rise and eroding coastlines that cause infrastructure to fall into the ocean. A plan to fix this, he explained, would involve moving transportation infrastructure away from the coast and more inland.

“They will need major federal funding,” he said.

“And what we are lacking right now is that really long-term, tighter plan.”

Councilwoman Andria Tupola wanted to see federal funding to conduct a feasibility study for the bridge by Makaha Beach Road, which continues to wash out.

“The Department of Transportation says they can’t put in any more money,” she said.

“So they need to build the same bridge over this same beach that’s getting washed out. And we’ve asked them multiple times to do a feasibility study so that we can relocate the road because obviously, it’s too close to the water.”

Tupola also was interested in repairing Kolekole Pass Road, which is on Navy land. If opened, it would offer West side residents a second way in and out of the area.

Both U.S. Sen. Kai Kahele and Case were optimistic about Tupola’s project requests being candidates for federal funding.