Happy holidays, St. Louis!
In honor of the 25th issue of Deep Dive and the last release of the year, I’m taking a look back at 2025. In this issue, I’ll highlight some of the Board of Aldermen’s biggest accomplishments, and I’ll provide some insight into what residents can expect as we head into 2026. I’ll see you next year!
A Year in Review
December 19, 2025
10 MINUTE READ
As we inch closer to the new year, I want to take some time to reflect on 2025. It was a big year for St. Louis. We elected a new mayor, navigated a second Trump administration, and saw Missouri Republicans overturn the will of voters at every opportunity. Most importantly, we came together to support our neighbors after one of the worst natural disasters in our city’s history. To say 2025 was rocky would be an understatement. In the face of those difficulties, the Board of Aldermen has continued to listen to residents’ concerns and work toward solutions.
I’m proud of my colleagues for their leadership this year, but the job’s not finished. As we head into 2026, we have to keep focused on rebuilding North St. Louis, making life more affordable for residents across the city, and funding critical city services and programs.
Despite the challenges we faced, the Board of Aldermen also accomplished something that often goes overlooked but is critically important: we passed the City budget on time for the third year in a row. Historically, this has not been the norm, and delays in the budget process create real uncertainty for City departments. Getting the budget done on time means departments can plan, staff appropriately, and deliver the services residents rely on without disruption.
Without further ado, let’s dive in!
Non-Tornado Legislation
For much of the year, tornado recovery was our primary focus, but it wasn’t all we did.
Affordability and Density
If you’re an avid Deep Dive reader, you probably know how important affordable housing and population growth are to me and to our city’s future. This year, we passed several bills to promote density and encourage new construction in the hopes of making housing more affordable in the long term.
Board Bill 18, sponsored by Alderwoman Velazquez and myself, amended the building code to change occupancy limit requirements. Strict square footage requirements can make it difficult for nontraditional families, multigenerational families, and newly arrived immigrants to find adequate housing. Under the old ordinance, families were prohibited from repurposing a primary bedroom as a shared bedroom for multiple children. Now they can. And while young children didn’t count against the original occupancy limit, that cut-off was set at 30 months old; it has now been raised to six years old.
Board Bill 42, sponsored by Alderman Cohn and myself, changed minimum lot size requirements in the zoning code. Many buildings in St. Louis are older than our zoning code and exist on lots that, today, our zoning code considers too small to build on. To rectify this, we reduced the minimum lot size requirements for single- and two-family housing by half. With that simple change, hundreds of vacant lots across the City are development-ready again.
Board Bill 60, sponsored by Alderwoman Clark Hubbard and myself, permits accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on existing properties. ADUs encompass a wide range of apartment types, including carriage houses or converted garages. Much like reducing occupancy limits, this allows for more creative and inclusive forms of housing. The goal of this bill—and, to some extent, all of these bills—is to incentivize increased density in the City, lower housing costs, and give prospective residents more options.
On a broader scale, the City is actively redesigning our zoning code from the ground up through the ZOUP (ZOning UPgrade). Much like the bills outlined above, the ZOUP will refocus on density, moving away from the suburbanization much of America experienced in the latter half of the 20th century. Think fewer big-box stores and parking lots, and more apartments with ground-floor retail. We want to encourage density and walkability in an effort to bring new residents to the City and grow our tax base.
Common Sense Regulations
In addition to the ongoing revision of our City charter, the Board of Aldermen is taking a closer look at our municipal code and cleaning up redundancies to make local government move more efficiently.
Board Bill 33, sponsored by Alderman Devoti, outlines the powers and responsibilities of the Sheriff of the City of St. Louis. Earlier this year, as the Sheriff’s Office came under intense scrutiny, there was widespread confusion about what the Sheriff actually does. In an effort to answer that question, the Board passed legislation clearly stating the responsibilities of the office—particularly affirming that the Sheriff is responsible for transporting City Justice Center detainees to receive medical care, an issue that had been used as leverage in budget negotiations. Board Bills 44 and 45, sponsored by Alderwoman Clark Hubbard and myself, establish a formal process by which neighborhood organizations become official entities and receive communication from the City. Prior to these bills, there was no standardized registration process, leaving some neighborhoods fractured by multiple organizations and making it difficult for the City to track meetings or share timely information.
Board Bill 88, sponsored by Alderman Browning and myself, revises our municipal code to clean up local elections. The primary goal was to reduce prohibitively high filing fees for municipal offices. To run for Mayor, candidates previously had to pay $1,600, while alders faced a $700 fee; those amounts have been reduced to $250 and $100, respectively. This opens the door to more candidates and more choices. We can’t call ourselves a democracy if we set unnecessary financial barriers to running for office.
While these bills were much needed, the Board of Aldermen knows that city services remain top of mind for residents. With that in mind, the City commissioned a compensation study to compare City pay scales with those of peer cities and surrounding municipalities. That study was completed and released this fall, giving us a clear picture of where we’re falling short. Using those findings, the Board of Aldermen will move in 2026 to raise pay for many City workers, strengthening our competitiveness and investing in the services residents depend on every day.
Preparing for the New Year
As we look ahead to 2026, the Board of Aldermen is already laying the groundwork for major decisions that will shape the City’s finances and priorities for years to come. Several key measures will soon be before voters, and it’s critical that residents understand what’s at stake.
Board Bill 100, sponsored by Alderwoman Cox Antwi and myself, puts the renewal of our earnings tax up for a vote in April. The earnings tax is a 1% income tax on everyone who lives or works in St. Louis City, and its importance cannot be overstated—it accounts for more than one-third of our entire budget. My office receives many complaints from residents about the unreliability of City services, and those concerns are valid. However, almost all City services rely on the earnings tax, and its renewal is absolutely critical to St. Louis’s future.
Another important revenue question led me to sponsor Board Bill 106, which would ask residents to reconsider the ballot initiative they approved in 2017 instituting a half-cent sales tax to fund the MetroLink Green Line. Several months ago, Mayor Spencer and Bi-State Development announced they would pause the project and instead pursue a bus rapid transit system. However, the original ballot language explicitly stated the funds would be used for a north-south MetroLink line. If we are pivoting from light rail to bus rapid transit, residents must approve that change. The City should not unilaterally ignore the law in the name of efficiency, and building trust with residents requires involving them in decision-making.
Tornado Legislation
One month into the 2025–2026 legislative session, our city was upended by an EF3 tornado. Much of our legislative agenda was put on hold as we worked to respond to a disaster of this magnitude. Within weeks, we passed a series of funding bills to help tornado survivors get back on their feet, and we continue to look for ways to bolster that support.
The first slate of bills included Board Bill 23, sponsored by Alderman Aldridge and myself, which added a new use to the Impacted Tenants Fund—helping survivors relocate by covering the first month’s rent on a new lease. Board Bill 24, sponsored by Alderwoman Boyd and myself, focused on homeowners, offering property tax relief based on the amount of time a home was uninhabitable due to tornado damage. Board Bills 28 and 29, sponsored by Alderwoman Clark Hubbard and myself, directed more than $10 million to the Community Development Administration to fund the rehabilitation and redevelopment of neighborhoods impacted by the tornado.
While we knew these policies would provide long-term relief, residents also needed immediate assistance. With Mayor Spencer’s support, I sponsored Board Bill 31 to allocate $30 million in interest from the Rams settlement fund to create the Tornado Relief and Recovery Fund (TRRF). These funds are intended to stabilize and redevelop tornado-impacted areas, with the goal of helping residents return to their homes and neighborhoods.
As we moved from summer into fall, it became clear that homes were not being stabilized quickly enough, and many residents faced the prospect of entering winter without safe, warm shelter. In response, we passed three additional bills to expand shelter capacity and get residents to safety. Board Bill 93, sponsored by Alderman Aldridge and myself, allocated $1 million of Rams settlement fund interest to the Impacted Tenants Fund. Board Bills 94 and 95, sponsored by Alderwoman Sonnier, Alderwoman Clark Hubbard, and myself, moved a combined $13 million in Rams settlement fund interest and budget surplus funds to expand and support winter housing.
Between Board Bills 31, 93, 94, and 95, the City has allocated more than $43 million toward recovery efforts. As a member of the Board of Estimate & Apportionment, I’ve approved contracts supporting everything from home repair and winter shelter operations to rental assistance, resident services, and housing case management. However, it’s clear that too much of this funding remains unspent—and that is not acceptable. I am committed to working with the executive branch to get these dollars out the door and into communities, and in the new year, we plan to introduce legislation to modernize our outdated and often ineffective procurement system so funds can move faster while still preserving critical checks and balances.
Staff at the Board of Aldermen, the Mayor’s office, and City departments have spent countless hours serving on selection committees, working in the community, and coordinating with the Office of Recovery to help residents rebuild. I am incredibly proud of the work we’ve done this year to support tornado recovery efforts, but the work is far from finished. As I’ve said time and time again, this is not something we can put behind us after just one year. Looking ahead to 2026, I anticipate more legislation aimed at supporting tornado survivors. When we support our most vulnerable residents, we strengthen the entire community.
What to Expect
While we accomplished a lot in 2025, the legislative session ends in April, not on December 31st. Here’s some of what you can expect as we head into the spring.
Bolstering Past Legislation
In 2017, voters approved Proposition NS, empowering the Land Reutilization Authority (LRA) to stabilize vacant properties and sell them to developers. Under the original measure, funding was allocated based on building type: single-family or multi-family. In 2026, my office will introduce legislation to update Proposition NS by funding stabilization based on square footage, creating a fairer and more flexible approach.
In 2024, voters approved Proposition S, instituting a 3% nightly fee on short-term rentals like Airbnb and Vrbo. That revenue funds the Affordable Housing Trust Fund, as well as tenant and homeless services such as the Right to Counsel and Impacted Tenants Fund. My office recently discovered that the City had not been collecting this tax, so in 2026, we plan to introduce legislation to ensure it is properly enforced. Housing costs continue to rise, and we can’t afford to leave these dollars on the table.
This year, the St. Louis Development Corporation announced it would pause its Minority- and Women-Owned Business Enterprise (MWBE) program, which helps ensure City contractors reflect the demographics of our community. I disagreed with this decision then, and I still do. The MWBE program was established by law, and it is not legal to unilaterally suspend it. My office has been working closely with minority and union contractors to chart a path forward, and in 2026 we will introduce legislation bringing the MWBE program into compliance with the City’s most recent disparity study.
Along those same lines, I am working to establish a new office focused on monitoring wage and labor standards. This would involve hiring dedicated staff to oversee pro-worker policies (such as MWBE and prevailing wage) and ensure they are being properly enforced.
Finally, my office will continue its commitment to equitable development. Since 2022, the St. Louis Development Corporation has used the Economic Justice Scorecard (EJS) to determine which incentives developers are eligible to receive. The EJS encourages developers to consider the broader community impact of their proposals and helps limit excessive incentives that divert property tax revenue away from public schools. Since the EJS was implemented, we’ve seen a significant decline in the number of incentives awarded with little impact on development activity. In the new year, my office plans to codify the EJS to ensure it continues to benefit St. Louis for decades to come.
Moving Forward
As we head into the new year, my office’s primary focus will continue to be tornado recovery and making it easier to build affordable housing. North City was neglected long before the tornado; the disaster simply exacerbated issues that already existed. We can’t walk the same path we did before or we’ll end up right back where we started. We need to chart a new course that lifts up the entire City, not just select neighborhoods.
We are, however, still focused on citywide initiatives. First, we haven’t forgotten about data centers. A major goal for 2026 is ironing out new regulations to ensure that tech companies don’t take advantage of St. Louis, polluting our water and raising utility costs in the process. Second, we are still focused on affordability and density, and that means taking a serious look at Downtown. My office is actively working with stakeholders, both in the public and private spheres, to reduce fragmentation Downtown and work together to bring businesses and residents back.
That does it for the last Deep Dive of 2025. I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season. We’ve got some great issues planned for 2026, so please stick around!
