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Affordable Housing Commission details $6.5M budget, urges full statutory use of trust fund amid tornado recovery
Summary
April Ford Griffin, executive director of the City of St. Louis Affordable Housing Commission, told the budget committee the commission’s FY26 proposal is $6,513,175 (including $5,555,512 for subsidy/housing assistance), and reminded aldermen the enabling ordinance was written to provide no less than $5 million annually from the use tax.
April Ford Griffin, executive director of the City of St. Louis Affordable Housing Commission, told the Budget & Public Employees Committee on May 21 that the commission’s proposed FY26 budget totals $6,513,175 and that $5,555,512 of that is budgeted for subsidy and housing assistance — including $5 million in use-tax (trust fund) revenue newly proposed for the coming year.
Why it matters: the Affordable Housing Trust Fund (the use-tax source) was created by ordinance to provide a recurring stream for affordable housing. Griffin told the committee the fund has invested roughly $150.7 million since 2003 and helped create or preserve 2,728 affordable units.
Griffin said the commission continues to operate a competitive annual funding round to support housing production, preservation and supportive services. The commission awards both capital for housing developments and grants for service providers that deliver homelessness prevention, rental assistance, tenant legal help, home repair and workforce/case-management supports. For the most recent funding round the commission awarded about $4.7 million for programmatic grants and $2.0 million to developers creating rental housing (88 rental units) from a larger slate of applications.
The director described modest office capacity: the commission currently has seven permanent positions and three vacancies; staff use temporary accounting support to keep contracts moving. She flagged that ARPA and trust-fund monies already committed to developments have strict liquidation and reporting requirements; funds show as “spent” in city ARPA reports only after projects submit receipts and staff completes liquidation steps.
Griffin reiterated the trust fund ordinance requires the commission receive at least $5 million annually and urged watchers that when city revenues are tight the purpose of the use tax is to protect affordable housing funding. She noted the commission invests funds across incomes defined by area median income (AMI) tiers and that the trust fund serves households from very low income (20% AMI) up to 80% AMI depending on the program.
Discussion versus decisions: Committee members praised the commission’s transparency and asked operational questions about vacant positions and tornado impacts to grantees; Griffin said staff surveyed grantees to assess project impacts and that most developments had received initial advances or draws and that ARPA-reporting lags may understate cash flows on the city dashboard. No committee vote was taken.
Ending: Griffin said the commission stands ready to amend existing contracts to meet urgent housing needs created by the tornado and requested continued support from the Board of Aldermen and ENA to sustain the $5 million minimum annual allocation from the use tax.
