Board Advised on COVID-19 Expenditures

​PRINCE WILLIAM, VA – August 14, 2020 – Prince William County Finance Director Michelle Attreed recently provided an update to the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to explain how the county is spending federal funding aimed at Coronavirus relief.

The county received $41 million from the Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act. The funds are used to aid small businesses, the Emergency Housing Assistance Program, economic recovery initiatives, Prince William County Public Schools, COVID-19 testing, homeless services, community feeding, grants to community partners, town allocations, and emergency response.

During the update, Ms. Attreed also shared that the county received an additional $6.7 million directly from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Justice to provide relief to residents served by the Prince William County Office of Housing and Community Development.

The additional funding is being used to support COVID-19 expenses for housing, administrative costs for allocating additional Section 8 Housing Choice vouchers, community development block grants, and emergency solutions grants to address the needs of the homeless. The U.S. Department of Justice funded temperature scanners, metal detectors, x-ray machines, and decontamination equipment for the Prince William County Judicial Center.

The Prince William County Economic Development Opportunity Fund Reserve, the Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Housing Development Authority contributed an additional $1.5 million, which is supporting small business economic response, housing and financial counseling services to people threatened by homelessness because of the pandemic, marketing for tourism and public housing coordination.

Attreed said the county is slated to receive another $41 million in CARES Act funding later this month. The Board will likely budget and appropriate the funding in early September to provide continued services and relief to the community.