The St. Louis Board of Aldermen has sent Mayor Cara Spencer the largest pot of local money for tornado relief to date.
The board on Tuesday took less than 30 minutes to give final approval to the creation of a tornado relief fund and a deposit of $30 million in interest from the Rams settlement. The money can be used for temporary housing, storage for belongings, insurance deductible assistance, support for nonprofits or to match state and federal grants.
“We know that it’s not enough,” Spencer said at a media availability after the meeting. “We hear you, we see you, and we are acting as quickly as government can.”
Spencer said it will be a couple of weeks before the Rams money begins to flow, in part so the city can better understand the gaps than exist in federal and state support.
“We do want to be intentional so we’re not spending our limited funds on specific needs that can be addressed by these other pools of money,” she said.
The board on Tuesday also sent Spencer legislation that directs about $5 million in under-allocated federal Community Development Block Grants to household assistance, neighborhood cleanup and home repair. The city’s Community Development Agency will redirect another $2.4 million in block grants that were appropriated but never spent to those same areas.
