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Council commits $2.2M toward 41-unit Fountain Street affordable housing project to boost tax-credit competitiveness
Summary
Council agreed to a $2.2 million local commitment for the Fountain Street affordable housing proposal (41 units), structuring disbursement roughly as $1.5M at construction closing and $700K at permanent financing to strengthen a competitive tax-credit application.
Burbank Housing representatives presented the Fountain Street project — a 41-unit affordable housing development the city has been pursuing since 2016 — and asked the council to commit local funding to strengthen the project's application for state tax credits.
Lauren Fury of Burbank Housing told the council that the Tax Credit Allocation Committee uses local commitments as a tiebreaker among similarly scored proposals and that every local dollar improves the project's competitiveness: "Every single dollar makes us much more competitive," Fury said, urging a full local commitment to maximize the project's chances in a competitive statewide process.
The city had previously agreed to waive approximately $1.1 million of local impact fees; staff recommended a lower direct loan commitment (about $1.5M) because of other upcoming priorities and the desire to preserve funds for a citywide housing strategy. Burbank explained a two-stage funding structure that can be acceptable to lenders and the state: the city can commit $1.5M at construction closing and the remaining $700K when the project converts to permanent financing (perm conversion), usually after construction completion.
Council discussion and vote
Council members asked staff to clarify fund balances and cautioned that the affordable housing fund includes restricted or already-committed amounts, so not all ledger totals are immediately available. After discussion, the council approved a motion to commit $2.2M to the Fountain Street project using a staged disbursement approach (construction closing and conversion to permanent financing), and asked staff and the city manager to finalize the commitment letter to accompany the project's 2026 tax-credit application.
Ending
Councilors and staff emphasized that the local commitment does not replace required third-party funding but is intended to make the project's application competitive in a statewide allocation process. Burbank Housing said the timeline is time-sensitive: construction drawings and tax-credit applications are due in the coming months.
