San Diego

After heated discussion Thursday, the San Diego City Council focused on two sources of money to fund the proposed Housing Trust Fund, but shied away from actually approving money for the program, which is designed to help low-income residents.

Instead, council members directed city staff to return in two weeks with an ordinance authorizing expenditure of $13.4 million from commercial development fees and hotel room taxes. Commercial development fees would generate about $12 million and Transient Occupancy Tax could provide about $1.3 million--far less than the original plan of a $54-million Housing Trust Fund.

Council members decided to postpone until budget deliberations in May a decision on whether they will add revenue from other sources. In a unanimous vote, they decided not to impose a tax on business revenues that would have generated $17 million.

A $54-million Housing Trust Fund had been proposed a year ago by the San Diego Housing Commission to assist low-income city residents, whose plight has worsened in recent years.

Using the fund, Housing Commission officials hoped to spend 60% on rental housing for families earning less than $18,250 annually; 20% would go for rental housing for families with incomes between $18,250 and $29,360; 10% would assist families earning less than $36,700 in purchasing homes, and 10% would pay for transitional housing for the homeless.

Since 1981, federal housing programs have been cut by 80%, or $23 billion, according to a report by Evan Becker, the commission’s executive director.