St. Louis residents who were forced to relocate by the May 16 tornado or who own homes that were damaged may receive some financial support from city government.
The St. Louis Board of Aldermen will discuss a bill this week that would make people who fled homes damaged in the tornado eligible for payments through a fund established for people kicked out of condemned buildings. Another bill would lower property tax bills for owners of buildings that were rendered uninhabitable by the tornado.
"My office has been working very closely with the bill sponsors and the Board of Aldermen to move those forward. We have to do those very quickly," Mayor Cara Spencer said in remarks to reporters on Monday afternoon.
The board will meet Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss the two bills. The one pertaining to property taxes would have to be passed by the end of June, Spencer said.
The city created the Impacted Tenants Fund last year for renters forced to leave their homes because a landlord committed building code violations. The fund was established with $100,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act and is replenished with money from fines assessed for code violations. Board Bill 23, sponsored by 14th Ward Alderman Rasheen Aldridge, would make tenants displaced by the tornado eligible for payments from the fund to help find new housing.
The funds currently available could help 100 tenants relocate within St. Louis, according to a statement issued Monday by board President Megan Green.
A second measure, Board Bill 24, would allow the city to reduce property tax bills proportional to the amount of time a property is uninhabitable in a given year because of tornado damage. Alderwoman Pam Boyd, who represents the 13th Ward, sponsored the bill.
The city is also looking at "long-term housing strategies" to find shelter for people renting homes and apartments in badly damaged buildings, Spencer said.
"A lot of folks have been sheltering within the community — staying with neighbors, staying with relatives, friends. And there is a finite amount of time where the community can really absorb that type of sheltering," Spencer said. "Renters are a huge part of the affected population here, and we want to make sure that we have places within the city limits, where possible, to keep people [in St. Louis]. Home is home."
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