A Jannie Blackwell amendment was added to the Fiscal Year 2007 budget which had its first reading last Thursday. The amendment transfers all of the Housing Trust Fund dollars from the “Purchase of Services” (class 200) account to the “Personal Services” (class 100) account. The transfer means that the $9.8 million in the Housing Trust Fund will not be available for the creation or rehabilitation of affordable housing or for homelessness prevention.
This amendment is, in multiples sense, an abuse of trust.
A few months ago, the city solicited proposals for affordable housing to be paid for by monies from the trust fund. OHCD is now considering 20 proposals in response to this RFP. If they were funded, over 500 units of affordable housing would be produced. They will not be produced unless the Trust Funds are transferred back to the Purchase of Services category.
To not do this would be a disgrace.
If the budget is amended to restore the funds to their proper purpose, passage of the budget would be delayed. My understanding is that the other alternative is for Council to pass what is called a transfer ordinance after the budget is adopted. It is not clear when Council has to do this to allow for work to start on some of the affordable housing projects soon.
You can protest this action at two meetings next week.
First, the Housing Trust Fund oversight board meets Tuesday at 10:30 in Room 476 of City Hall. Come demand that the oversight board call for Housing Trust funds to be restored to their proper use.
Second, City Council meets on Thursday, May 25, at 10:00 am in Room 400 of City Hall. Come demand that City Council reject Councilwoman Blackwell’s proposal.
Why is this happening?
No one really knows. I called a number of council offices today and they did not know about this transfer of funds. There is some suspicion the Councilwoman Blackwell is using this transfer of funds to get some leverage over the administration. There is also some suspicion that her ultimate goal is to try to stop the Mayor’s proposed reorganization of housing agencies. It is also not clear whether Councilwoman Blackwell meant to transfer Housing Trust Funds when she proposed this amendment as it includes other housing funds as well. No one really knows.
Council, and especially Councilwoman Blackwell are frustrated by the administration’s unwillingness to bring forth details about the reorganization of the city’s housing agencies. No matter what one thinks about the virtues of reorganizing the cities housing agencies—something I will write about soon—I can certainly understand the frustratioj.
However, it seems to me that Council should not be using money that is supposed to be dedicated to affordable housing as a bargaining chip in this tiff with the Mayor. .
Some Background
After a difficult struggle, in 2005 City Council unanimously passed an ordinance creating a Housing Trust Fund. The fund was initially planned raise about 15 million a year from a doubling of the deed recording fee to $144, the mortgage recording fee to $114 and the fee paid when mortgages are paid off to $112.
The money was supposed to go to produce affordable housing. Sixty five percent of the funds in the first year were to be used produce new homes; thirty percent of the funds were to go to preserving existing homes, and five percent were to go to homelessness prevention. The fund is overseen by an eight-person Trust Fund Oversight Board which has four positions reserved for community representatives.