Compromise Budget for City Housing OKd
The Los Angeles City Council approved Wednesday a budget for city housing and federal block grant expenditures for the next fiscal year, giving unanimous endorsement to a last-minute compromise touted as a balance between competing housing and economic development proposals.
“On the issue of revitalization, both residential and commercial has been balanced in a way acceptable to the vast majority of the council,” said Mark Ridley-Thomas, head of a key committee that forged the compromise, which involves $109 million in federal block grant funds provided annually to the city.
In recent years, there has been tension over shifting some of the money away from traditional housing programs into new programs aimed at spurring businesses.
The funding was the subject of lengthy negotiations, in part because funds are especially tight for the coming fiscal year beginning July 1. Some cuts were narrowly averted when last-minute savings from other programs were identified.
Mayor Richard Riordan has said that he will approve the compromise.
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