Issue #122, Mar/Apr 2002

LA Story Sidebar:

What We Won

By Jan Breidenbach

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Back to Table of Contents		 The LA Housing Trust Fund will be phased in over two-and-a-half years, beginning July 1, 2002 and will be fully funded at $100 million in July 2004. Each year thereafter, the fund will be brought up to $100 million, based on what was spent the year before. The sources are included in the baseline budget and were agreed upon by the City Council in March.

Dollars for the trust fund do not include any new taxes or fees; instead they are redirections of existing revenue streams and dedication of new funds. A few major sources include:
  • increasing redevelopment funds targeted to housing
  • revenue from street furniture advertising (the city sells advertising on bus stops)
  • program income from a variety of sources that previously flowed only to the general fund
  • dedicating portions of:
    • the tobacco settlement funds
    • city business tax
    • hotel occupancy tax

Mayor Hahn has proposed appointing a 10-12 member advisory committee representative of the fund’s constituencies to formulate guidelines for how the fund will operate; the City Council has approved the proposal, but the mayor has not yet made the appointments. Housing LA also believes the committee should have a life even after procedures are established, and reconvene every few years to evaluate the fund’s operation.

In its first year the housing trust fund will likely support projects already in the pipeline that were delayed for lack of funds. Housing LA has proposed using most of the funds for construction and rehabilitation of multi-family units for low- and very low-income households, and earmarking smaller portions for immediate homeless and tenant needs and first-time homeownership.

 Back to March/April 2002 index.