Agenda - Council - 09/13/2022 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Specifically, Treasury added enumerated eligible uses for impacted populations including paid sick, medical, or family leave; health insurance subsidies; and services for the unbanked and underbanked, on the basis that impacts of the pandemic that were broadly experienced by many communities would be addressed by these uses. Treasury also shifted some eligible uses, formerly restricted only to disproportionately impacted communities, to impacted communities. These uses included community violence intervention, assistance accessing or applying to public benefits and services, affordable housing development, and services to promote healthy childhood environments like childcare and early learning. These uses were shifted on the basis that the associated impacts of the pandemic were experienced by a broader population, and responses are, accordingly, eligible to benefit a broader population. Additionally, the final rule clarified that investments in parks and other public outdoor recreation spaces are enumerated eligible uses for disproportionately impacted communities. In including these uses, Treasury took into account evidence on the social determinants of health, or the ways that social context, like the neighborhood built environment, impacts health outcomes. By taking a more holistic approach to public health, the final rule allows recipients to respond more broadly to factors that contributed to the pandemic's health impacts and more fully mitigate those health impacts. To balance administrative flexibility with a maintenance of focus on impacts of the pandemic, Treasury considered, but did not include, other proposed enumerated uses that did not respond to the impacts of the pandemic or responded to impacts that were not experienced generally across the country by many jurisdictions and populations. For example, Treasury did not include pollution remediation broadly, a proposed enumerated eligible use for disproportionately impacted communities, on the basis that associated projects would only 389