Bay Area Recovery Dollars Data Update: March 14, 2025

The latest quarterly reporting data from the US Treasury reflects local governments' allocation of SLFRF funds through September 30, 2024.

SLFRF recipients are organized into five tiers.¹ The dashboard includes Tier 1 and Tier 2 jurisdictions, which were required to submit a quarterly report for Q3 2024. There are 32 cities reflected in the dashboard. This update does not include Redwood City, which was included in the Q1 2024 dataset but excluded in the Q3 2024 dataset. With this set of Tier 1 and Tier 2 jurisdictions, the total allocation of SLFRF funds to the region is just under $3 billion. The key findings, which are listed below, compare Q1 and Q3 2024 data for Tier 1 and 2 jurisdictions included in both datasets.

A Note about the Data Update for San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Rohnert Park
Data for San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, and Rohnert Park were supplemented with project details from annual recovery plans and information provided by city and county staff that oversee SLFRF spending. Our dashboard and key findings are primarily based on data in the quarterly reports. However, given some notable discrepancies between the quarterly data and annual recovery reports, we supplemented the dashboard updates with more detailed information from their annual recovery plans and information provided by city and county staff. We made the following edits to the data:

• San Mateo County: The County’s 2024 Annual Recovery Plan from July 2024 reported a higher amount for their “Comfort Inn” project than in the Q3 2024 quarterly report. The County Executive's Office confirmed that the total amount obligated by the County exceeded the allocated amount. We have updated the data to reflect this higher amount.

• Santa Clara County: The 2024 Annual Recovery Plan for Santa Clara County included multiple projects that were not in the Q3 2024 quarterly report. We have included these projects in this dashboard update and key findings.

• Rohnert Park: The Rohnert Park City Finance Department confirmed that the city obligated $10 million for revenue replacement, even though the quarterly data showed that the majority of their allocation had not been obligated. We have updated the data to reflect this allocation.

These adjustments increased the total amount obligated by $72 million in Q3, which also significantly increased the overall share of funds obligated in the region.

Key Findings

Note: These key findings are current as of September 30, 2024, the most recent data release from the US Treasury. Given this data lag, the dashboard data may not reflect the most current obligation decisions.

As of this update, the December 31, 2024 deadline to obligate SLFRF funds has passed, and any remaining unobligated dollars will be returned to the US Treasury. According to the US Treasury final rule, obligation means “an order placed for property and services and entering into contracts, subawards, and similar transactions that require payment.” However, there are concerns that local governments have not properly obligated funds in alignment with this criteria. This would mean that jurisdictions that did not properly obligate their SLFRF dollars may have to return the funds to the US Treasury.

As of September 30, 2024, Tier 1 and 2 jurisdictions in the Bay Area have made plans to spend $2.97 billion (99 percent) of their $3 billion SLFRF funds. There was a remaining $23.6 million (1 percent) that had not yet been obligated. During Q1 to Q3 of 2024:

• Localities made considerable progress in obligating their remaining SLFRF dollars. Bay Area jurisdictions made obligations for an additional $180 million during this period.

• Local governments largely used SLFRF dollars to offset revenue loss. Six jurisdictions — Concord, Daly City, Fairfield, Newark, Rohnert Park, and Solano County — allocated $25 million towards revenue replacement. Whereas Pittsburg, Vacaville, and Vallejo decreased their total obligation towards revenue replacement. Pittsburg cancelled $10 million in revenue replacement spending, the largest amount among the three places.

• The share of completed projects increased slightly from 39 percent to 47 percent from Q1 to Q3 of 2024. At the end of September 2024, 293 projects were in progress or had not yet started. Two percent of all projects do not include information on completion status.

• In addition to revenue replacement, many jurisdictions have made sizable investments in health, housing, and infrastructure. From Q1 to Q3 2024, an additional $88 million was obligated to non-Covid public health efforts (such as a behavioral health call center, preventative health and wellness services, and supportive housing for behavioral health patients), $56 million toward housing justice (projects include sheltering and other services for unhoused individuals, legal and tenant resources, and low-income housing), $14.7 million toward Covid-related public health efforts (such as improving HVAC and ventilation infrastructure and wastewater monitoring), and $13.5 million to community infrastructure (including improvement and beautification of recreational, community, and cultural centers, and investments in stormwater infrastructure).

• Seventeen localities made additional obligations to their SLFRF funds, including Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, Solano County, Sonoma County, City of Alameda, Antioch, Berkeley, Daly City, Fairfield, Newark, Rohnert Park, San Leandro, Santa Rosa, Vacaville, and Vallejo. Santa Clara County obligated the most of all jurisdictions ($88.5 million) to housing justice, food security, and general public health projects. This includes a $40 million construction project for the County’s new Child & Adolescent Psychiatric Facility/Behavioral Health Services Center to expand storage for personal protective equipment. It was the single largest project added during this time period. The County has $2.5 million remaining to be obligated, or one percent of their total allocation. During the same period, Contra Costa County also obligated the remaining $37.5 million to the County’s Hospital Enterprise Fund, the second-largest new project to be added in the region.

• Nine localities — Alameda County, Contra Costa County, San Mateo County, Solano County, Fairfield, Rohnert Park, San Leandro, Vacaville, and Vallejo — completed obligating their full SLFRF allocation. Santa Clara County, Sonoma County, Antioch, and Berkeley are close to spending down their dollars, with less than one percent of their allocation remaining.

• Hayward and Pittsburg actually decreased the total amount of obligated SLFRF funds. Between the end of Q1 and Q3 2024, Hayward reduced its total obligated funds by $584,100. This decrease was primarily due to a $545,000 reduction for a Winter Warming Shelter, a $50,000 reduction for a hotel voucher project for unhoused residents, and an $11,000 reduction for a government software project. These reductions were offset slightly by a $22,000 increase in an obligation for a capital infrastructure project.

  Pittsburg also reduced its total obligation by $443,300. This reduction was primarily driven by the City cancelling $10 million that was planned for the City’s General Fund. Instead, the City reallocated resources to seven new projects and one preexisting project, such as $7.3 million towards an indoor recreational space at John Henry Johnson Park and $954,000 towards recreational space at an old golf course.

• Thirteen localities still have unobligated SLFRF dollars. The City of Alameda has the largest share and dollar amount of unobligated funds at 30 percent and $8.6 million, mostly unchanged since Q1 2024. Pittsburg and Hayward also have $4.7 million and $4.3 million unobligated, respectively.

Annual Recovery Plans
Localities were required to submit an annual recovery plan by July 31, 2024. Some local governments have made their plan publicly available, including Contra Costa County, Marin County, San Francisco City and County, San Mateo County, Santa Clara County, Solano County, Sonoma County, San Jose, and Oakland. The annual recovery plans are more current than the quarterly data, and this may result in some differences from the quarterly reporting data (e.g., the discrepancy noted above). This dashboard and key findings update reflect this new information.