Five years and well over $100 million mean many Chattanooga-area projects supported through COVID assistance are now complete or ongoing.
Though half a decade has passed since the first case of COVID-19 hit Hamilton County — on March 13, 2020, the same day that the Trump administration declared the pandemic a national emergency — residents are still registering the effects of some funds meant to blunt the consequences of the health crisis.
Two federal laws provided the majority of all grant funding given to local governments during the pandemic. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act passed unanimously in March 2020. The American Rescue Plan Act passed with no Republican support in March 2021.
The nearly $150 million in federal grants the city of Chattanooga and Hamilton County received amid the pandemic have gone toward projects including the creation of new affordable housing, wastewater system rehabilitation and homelessness relief. Significant portions of the funds given to the city — which received about $79 million — went toward housing, workforce development and public safety initiatives.
In the county, which took in about $71 million from the federal government, education, community development and wastewater system upgrades accounted for a large part of the government’s use of pandemic assistance.