photo by: Rochelle Valverde/Journal-World

Lawrence City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St., is pictured on Jan. 31, 2023.

Lawrence city leaders will soon review a plan to allocate $1.64 million in federal funds to help address homelessness and affordable housing.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will receive a presentation regarding the city’s draft allocation plan for $1.64 million from the HOME Investment Partnership American Rescue Plan (HOME-ARP) Program. The plan calls for focusing the dollars on creating affordable rental housing based on a market analysis and input from local social service agencies and the public.

Specifically, the allocation would invest about $1.4 million toward the development of affordable rental housing, with the remaining $246,000 going to administrative and planning costs. The city will give developers subsidies of between 20% and 40% of the costs per unit, with those subsidies estimated to help support the creation of 19 to 38 units. A consultant will present the allocation plan as part of the meeting, and the commission will consider approving the plan as part of its meeting on March 14.

The city hired the consultant Virchow, Krause & Company to collect public input; complete a needs assessment and gap analysis; assess housing needs given current and projected market conditions; and prepare the allocation plan, according to a city staff memo. The consultant conducted a survey and held meetings and focus groups to obtain feedback regarding the best use of the funds. The memo states the outcome of those discussions was “a strong desire” from partner agencies, stakeholders and the public to direct the funds towards the development of affordable housing. As part of the meeting, the commission will receive the gap analysis, market analysis, and the public input collected.

The HOME-ARP funding is in addition to previous funding the city received from the American Rescue Plan Act and other pandemic relief. The city has used that money to help support millions in employee raises and other initiatives, and in December, the City Commission allocated more than $8 million toward various efforts related to homelessness, affordable housing and other community social service projects. Allocations included $4.5 million to create a site with modular homes for people experiencing homelessness and $1.81 million toward affordable housing projects.

The Lawrence City Commission will convene at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St.