McKee seeks to spend COVID cash on Washington Bridge repair, shelter beds
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PROVIDENCE – Gov. Dan McKee wants to tap unspent federal pandemic aid for a down payment on a new westbound Washington Bridge, to help businesses hurt by the shutdown of the old span – and to boost services for Rhode Islanders without a place to live.
In a flurry of amendments to his state budget plan for next year, McKee on Monday asked lawmakers to spend:
$20 million on the state's share of new Washington Bridge construction
$24 million to replenish the state's unemployment insurance trust fund
$16.6 million on homeless services
$1.3 million on businesses hurt by the bridge's closing
He plans to get that money by canceling $35 million in federal funding that had been ticketed for an East Providence wind turbine port and tapping $20 million that had been set aside in case there is a resurgence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More: A report warned the state about the Washington Bridge in 2015. Why was nothing done?
He also wants to shift $6.6 million in federal funding between housing programs and apply the state's hotel tax to the short-term rental of homes. Taxing full-home rentals like room rentals would generate $5 million per year toward funding homeless services in the long term, according to a news release from the governor's office.
“My administration is committed to improving the housing outlook for Rhode Islanders – whether they are experiencing housing insecurity, seeking rentals that families can afford or working toward first-time home ownership,” McKee said in the release.
McKee's amendments would pull the plug on $35 million he celebrated in a pre-primary election day groundbreaking in 2020 on the South Quay Marine Terminal Project.
The project, which includes a staging area for offshore wind turbine construction off Veterans Memorial Parkway, is still in the planning stages and looked increasingly likely not to meet the American Rescue Plan's deadlines to use the federal money by the end of 2026.
Despite no longer being able to use the federal pandemic cash, developers of South Quay say the project is alive and moving forward.
"We are excited about the project and fully committed to the project," Bill Fischer, spokesman for Waterson Terminal Services, said Monday about South Quay. "As good partners, there was an obligation to point out where this project was and how that compared to federal deadlines ... It looks to me like [the state] is making an informed decision that preserves federal funding."
`Facing catastrophe' as homeless populations continue to swell
McKee's decision to boost federal funding for shelter and other homeless services comes as advocates and social service providers warned of a budget "cliff" looming at the start of the new fiscal year July 1 and prior appropriations of federal COVID aid running out.
More: Washington Bridge crashes skyrocket after westbound closure. Here's the data.
This year the state is spending $45.5 million of its $1.1 billion in American Rescue Plan cash on programs to ease homelessness.
"Rhode Island is experiencing an unprecedented level of homelessness, and unfortunately we are facing catastrophe if the legislature and governor do not act soon to fund shelters," said a news release from the Rhode Island Coalition to End Homelessness.
As rents have climbed and more people have been unable to find a place to live, Rhode Island has increased shelter capacity from 652 in January 2020 to 1,680 this February, according to the coalition. The Department of Housing reports 1,390 beds open currently.
But funding to keep those beds open is in jeopardy once federal funding runs out. The coalition has scheduled a rally Tuesday to ask for $30 million in additional spending.
The $1.3 million in "grants or other business supports" to establishments hurt by the closing of the westbound Washington Bridge includes $600,000 to be distributed by East Providence, $400,000 by Providence and $300,000 for businesses elsewhere in the state. It is in addition to the $400,000 marketing campaign to encourage people not to abandon places of business out of fear of having to cross the Seekonk River.
It is not yet clear how much it will cost to tear down the old bridge span and build a new one.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: McKee seeks to spend COVID cash on Washington Bridge repair, shelter beds
