City’s CARES Act Spending on Track

News Release from City and County of Honolulu, Nov 20, 2020

HONOLULU – The City and County of Honolulu expects to spend all $387.1 million of its federal COVID-19 funding to comply with the federal requirement that all CARES money be expended by December 30, 2020. To date, $332.8 million, or 86% of funds, has been committed to support O‘ahu’s recovery.

“We are on track in spending the CARES money allocated to Honolulu to make sure that people get help over the holidays. Money is being expended according to our recovery plan: Creating a COVID-safe economy, helping people and businesses get back on their feet, and developing new opportunities for a post-COVID-19 economy,” said Mayor Kirk Caldwell.

Below are updates on key support programs supported by CARES Act funds.

Creating a COVID-Safe Economy

Protecting People’s Health

• Invested $4.5 million in community health centers and their patients, in addition to $10 million for contact tracing and other services at the health centers.
• Expended $2.5 million to support the mental and emotional health of children and youth, survivors of domestic violence, and people who are homeless.
• Invested $6 million in childcare and education support for school-age children.
• Partnered with AARP-Hawaii to deliver 47,000 meals to 11,600 people, support health and wellness checks for 16,625 seniors, and counseling to nearly 2,000 kūpuna.
• Partnered with Project Vision to provide 2,900 mobile COVID-19 tests.

Free COVID-19 Testing

• We encourage anyone who thinks they need a COVID-19 test to visit https://www.oneoahu.org/covid19-testing for a list of sites.
• Free testing is available until November 30.

Back on the Wave

• About 1,700 small businesses have joined this initiative to create a COVID-safe economy. People can find businesses that are taking COVID safety seriously at com.

Helping People and Businesses

Household Hardship Relief Fund

• Provides $25 million in grants to help people negatively impacted by COVID-19.
• Qualified households receive up to $2,500 a month toward housing, childcare, medical costs, and other emergency expenses.
• About $15 million has been distributed or committed to support more than 2,300 families. Our partners are working to review each application and distribute all funds by the end of the year. 

Small Business Relief and Recovery Fund

• About $151 million is expected to be awarded to support small businesses on O‘ahu.
• Awarded: $143 million.
• Remaining: $8 million.
• Amount disbursed to service-based businesses and retailers.
• Approximately 60% to service-based businesses.
• Approximately 40% to retailers.
• Small commercial fisherman can apply for a grant until November 30 at org/small-business.

Culture and Arts Recovery and Relief Fund

• The fund supports O‘ahu businesses and nonprofits in the culture and arts, including home-based businesses, with grants up to $50,000.
• The culture and arts recovery fund will close to new applications after November 23. We urge businesses and nonprofits to apply at org/culture-arts

CARES Act Dashboard on OneOahu.org

• org/dashboard is updated weekly to keep the community informed about how CARES Act funding supports our island’s recovery.

BACKGROUND

What is the status of the City’s CARES Act funds?

• Allocated: $387 million, or 100%.
• Under contract: $332.8 million, or 86% of funding.
• Spent: $214.1 million, or 55% of funding.

What’s changed from last week?

—PAU—