St. Louis to offer down payment assistance with ARPA funds [Video]

ST. LOUIS — A new down payment assistance program for first-time homebuyers and new loans aimed at small businesses, nonprofits and minority- and women-owned contractors were announced Thursday by the city of St. Louis.

The three new types of loans, available to city residents and businesses, will come from the city’s roughly $500 million in total federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The programs are designed to address longstanding inequalities by offering access to low-cost capital and homeownership, city officials including Mayor Tishaura Jones said.

Officials held a press event at the former industrial facility at 3940 Martin Luther King Drive in north St. Louis. The project to overhaul the former factory at the siteinto a workforce training center for high-paying, in-demand jobs will be called the Campus for Economic Mobility, …