The council took up the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee’s recommendations and discussed how the charter-mandated 2% of the general fund will be applied given the council’s amended revenue total.

Maxwell Ciardullo, co-chair of the advisory board, described a compromise that increased the small multifamily affordable rental program allocation from the council’s lower counterproposal back to $3.3 million (down from the advisory committee’s initial $6.3 million request) because Safety & Permits and Finance New Orleans reported limited capacity to process larger volumes within the next year.

Several public speakers and housing advocates urged the council to deposit the full 2% of the amended general fund to the Housing Trust Fund as required by the charter. Panelists and council members said that the amended general fund total of roughly $799.75 million yields a roughly $16 million Housing Trust Fund allocation at 2%, and council leaders pledged that once additional revenue is officially recognized the trust fund total would be adjusted to match.

Quote: "2% means 2% and that once the additional revenue is officially recognized, the housing trust fund will be increased to match that," said Maxwell Ciardullo, co-chair of the advisory board.

Next steps: Councilmembers and the advisory board said they will meet after revenue recognition to finalize allocations and work with Finance New Orleans and Safety & Permits to streamline permitting and capacity to deploy funds more quickly to small multifamily projects.