Austin Mayor Steve Adler has joined his fellow Texas mayors in calling on the state Legislature to consider housing and Internet access with the $16 billion from Washington.
Thirteen mayors wrote the state’s GOP leadership to thank them for making the $16 billion part of the third special session agenda.
“I joined other Texas mayors to urge state leaders to dedicate ARPA funds to housing and utility assistance, health care, high-speed internet access and development, business support, and early childhood education and childcare,” Mayor Adler said in a post to his Twitter account on Sept. 28.
Adler joined other mayors in writing a letter to request the funds.
“Many businesses ground to a halt, impacting the wellbeing and livelihood of millions of Texans,” the mayors said in the letter. “Schools were forced to provide education online, forcing educators to adjust to an entirely new way of teaching at a moment’s notice. Our health care system also faced challenges, which pushed the system beyond its limits.”
Later in the letter they called on the government to work together.
“Collaboration at all levels of government will help the State of Texas recover and move forward in a post-pandemic world,” they said in the letter.
Aside from housing and broadband access, the mayors are asking legislators to dedicate American Rescue Plan Act funding to the health care system, business support and early childhood education and childcare. The mayors wrote that the state still has a long way to go though it has managed to weather the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Adler, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner and Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker were among the mayors who came out in support of the new funds in those areas, according to San Antonio Report. About $326 million in funding is expected to go to San Antonio, with the first half having already arrived in May and the second half anticipated to come next year.
