St. Louis plans $12M for debris removal, housing after tornado
ST. LOUIS - The St. Louis Mayor's Office has announced a plan to invest $12 million in Rams interest funds toward tornado relief, primarily for debris removal and intermediate housing.
The plan currently consists of allocating:
- $5.35 million for private property debris removal
- $5 million in intermediate housing
- $1.65 million for recovery office services
These funds will be used to provide dumpsters for nonprofits and community groups; consulting services; recovery officer staffing; and repairs to make hundreds of affordable, public, and nonprofit vacancies immediately available for tornado victims in need of shelter.
Such plans could be formally approved as soon as next week.
Spencer says, in addition to these funds, more than $9.5 million approved locally for right-of-way debris removal and $10.4 million for housing stabilization and repairs already obligated from Rams settlement funds, ARPA, CDBG and other sources.
“Private property debris removal and intermediate housing remain top priorities for the Recovery Office,” said Mayor Spencer. “These funds are a starting point to a larger tranche of funding to ensure we remove all debris from our communities and ensure our impacted residents have access to safe housing by winter.
Along with these efforts, the City has contracted Looks Great Services to carry out disaster-related debris removal from the public right-of-way, street curb and alleys. These services began Tuesday and are expected to last 4-8 weeks.
Additional funding discussions continue around larger private property debris removal and housing programs with FEMA, in addition to state and local sources.
During a news conference Thursday, Spencer acknowledged that city leaders have been in close contact with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA to assess tornado-damaged sites and evaluate the scope of debris removal needs. However, the federal government has yet to deploy resources for a large-scale cleanup effort requested from USACE.
"We are continuing to press on that at a national level," said Spencer. "We feel very confident we have the necessary local support to get that over the finish line, and we are contiuning to work on a daily basis to get this done, because we know that it's not only a huge price tag, but it's something we do not have the local power or expertise to execute."
"We need federal assistance. I stand by that. We will continue to push on that."
