COUNCIL APPROVES CASH FOR HOUSING 694 UNITS DEPEND ON STATE MONEY.

Byline: Harrison Sheppard Staff Writer

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved the first spending from the city's new Housing Trust Fund, a commitment of $17 million as part of an attempt to leverage an additional $41 million in state funding.

The money will pay for 13 housing developments with 694 new units for low-income residents, 45 percent of them slated for the San Fernando Valley.

City officials plan to use the $17 million in their application later this month for $41 million in state funding for housing.

``The housing trust fund dollars will make us much more competitive on the state level,'' said Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, chairwoman of the council's Housing and Community Development Committee. ``We have high hopes of actually getting all these 13 projects funded with Proposition 46 and low-income-housing tax credits.''

The state ballot measure, approved by voters in November, allowed the state to sell $2.1 billion in bonds to create a housing trust fund.

Mayor James Hahn and the council created the Housing Trust Fund last year to boost the stock of affordable housing in Los Angeles. The fund is supposed to eventually receive $100 million in funding, and be maintained at that level, but it is less than halfway there now.

``The first disbursement of the trust fund is an investment in our city's future and will ensure that our residents will be able to enjoy a high quality of life and access to quality affordable housing,'' Hahn said in a written statement.