The Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee held a meeting on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 9:00 a.m. in Council Chambers. The committee approved minutes, received program updates from three implementing partners, discussed and voted on the annual report and 2027 funding recommendations, and began planning for 2028. Public comment focused on accessibility, needs‑based prioritization, and the challenges faced by small rental property owners and long‑time residents.
Speak of the speaker the devil. I also don't see our friends at Gonilla recording the meeting right now. Well, good morning, everyone. Welcome. I'm going to call this meeting of the Housing Trust Fund Advisory Committee to order. Elizabeth Holman. Here. Monique Blossman. Here. Tasia Gaspard. Here, present. Ellen Lee is present. We've got two members absent. We do have a quorum. I will entertain a motion now to approve the minutes of the July twenty-first twenty twenty-six meeting. I need a motion. I make a motion. I need a second. All right. We have a motion and a second to approve the minutes of the July twenty-first and twenty twenty-six meeting. All in favor. Any opposed. All right. Thank you. The first item on the agenda is our program updates. We will be hearing from the Office of Community Development Finance, New Orleans, and the New Orleans Redevelopment Authority. But in the meantime, I know how much work you all are putting in these positions and the thought and uh commitment that you all bring to it. So without waxing too sentimental, I just want to really uh thank you all for for getting us here today. Um and also, you know, really everybody uh who's in the room today, there's so many familiar faces, uh, whether it's the the fund manager partners in NORA and the finance authority of New Orleans, um, as well as all the advocates and stakeholders and and folks who have implemented um uh because we've we've uh uh done a lot of work uh in the last uh really a couple of years, but especially um kind of putting the pedal to the metal this year. into these positions and uh the thought and uh commitment that you all bring to it so um without waxing too sentimental I just want to really uh thank you all for for getting us here today um and also you know really everybody uh who's in the room today there's so many familiar faces uh whether it's the the fund manager partners and in Nora and the finance authority of New Orleans um as well as all the advocates and stakeholders and and folks who have implemented um uh because we've we've uh uh done a lot of work uh in the last uh really a couple years but especially um kind of putting the pedal to the metal this year uh we have uh a fully executed CEA as we talked about last time um and we also have funds that have gone out the door to uh the fund partners yes um and so I think uh most of all what I want to mark today is that we are sort of at this inflection point where this has gone from a lot of I think kind of esoteric behind the scenes like inside baseball kind of uh discussions about you know when is the CEA gonna get done you know how long does it take for a contract to route in the city's brass system um winner funds actually getting out the door to funds are out the door uh they are uh either already received in the case of Nora in the case of FNO I think it's the quintessential uh the check is in the mail uh we had a slight uh technical issue I don't know if the funds have actually hit the account that they should be there within within the week if not sooner um and so we're in the implementation era of the housing trust fund which is just so incredibly exciting um I know it's what all the you know advocates and stakeholders and partners have been uh organizing and building towards and so we're at a point now where uh money is gonna go out the door it's gonna start hitting the streets and going to projects so I just wanted to take a couple minutes of personal privilege there just to um mark uh what a seminal moment this is so kudos to everybody um you gotta gotta celebrate the milestones along the way absolutely so thank you all um couple of updates um uh I know that um uh the advisory committee has asked about both those some quick project updates um as well as uh some programmatic updates and um I think I saw Will come in the room uh somewhere so I won't put him on the spot um but we have uh two uh programs uh the interoccupied rehab uh program and the um rental rehab program um with uh rebuilding together uh the former um is is uh blown and going is off to the races I don't think there's any any uh holdups there the city uh Office of Community Development we allocated uh awarded another million and a half amended that contract for that program and um that contract's uh done and and that those programs are are rolling uh I'm sure we'll would be happy to offer updates a little later um if if you all have specific questions um the rental rehab uh program was one that we awarded uh last year it was a large award it was uh five million uh dollars um that our TNO was going to administer they put together really um you know uh I'll say innovative or uh needle threading proposal that that uh you know made made it work within some narrow constraints that we had um and we had to work through some challenges around um just administration and how we were going to meet some of the um uh C D BG and entitlement requirements and other federal you know CFR regs uh around uh the administration of the program but I'm happy to say uh we've we've uh charted that path and and should be moving forward in in very short order in the next uh week or two. I think we have a meeting next week I believe uh if not the week after to kind of put the finishing touches on that. So that program is moving forward. I'm also happy to say I know um uh Monique is here and others uh who have been ardent really everybody's been ardent advocates around the right to counsel program um this is a program that again many many folks in the room have advocated for worked closely with city council um uh several years ago to actually uh have this program be enshrined in in the city code um given the city's budget constraints uh the uh 1.3 million dollars that was originally in the city's general fund in the Office of Community Development Budget this year um we uh uh learned in in around May that we were not going to be able to fund that full commitment out of the city's general fund really really any of it given how uh you know uh dire some of the circumstances are around the city's financial position and so um Laura and Alexis and the uh SLS team have been uh just incredible partners working through what I know is uh a challenging situation and I'm very happy to say that in partnership with the city council we've been able to identify uh the uh full funding for for this year um we still have some work to do I think you know there's a budget process obviously ramping up right now and we need to make sure that uh in 2027 we can do everything we can to support um that program given the incredible work it does uh around eviction prevention um and and supporting families before they become housing insecure or homeless or create so many other downstream challenges um for for the families most of all the individuals most of all but also for our communities and so um I'll just say uh the way that we solved the problem uh this year the budget problem was um uh the OCD team was able to identify about five hundred and seventy five thousand dollars in expiring community development block grant COVID CV uh money um and so I want to thank Madeline and Courchery and and the the team at OCD uh who worked really really quickly got a contract executed in record time uh to be able to uh at least secure those those funds um uh for SLLS and then uh I I want to uh celebrate city council members um the Councilmember Morel Harris Willard um uh McCarrin really really everybody stepped up I think um SLS had meetings with everyone Um and so I want to thank Madeline and Courchery and and the team at OCD uh who worked really really quickly, got a contract executed in record time uh to be able to uh at least secure those those funds um uh for SLLS and then uh I I want to uh celebrate city council members, um the Councilmember Morrell, Harris, Willard, um uh McCarron, really really everybody stepped up. I think um SLS had meetings with every single council uh member, Councilmember Hughes, Councilmember Green, everybody expressed their support for the program. And uh I believe it was out of uh some settlement money that council identified the remaining 750,000 or so. Um so that gets us through this year, um, which is a win. Um and uh you know we're we're excited for uh building on that and and making sure that that program gets funded um to the greatest extent that it can be. But uh again, um you know, just excited to uh be able to see that that program continue uh making the impact that that it does every day. I actually got to attend um uh an eviction court uh day with the SLOS team, and it's just incredible work that they do. It's truly truly incredible. Um in terms of uh other updates, I think we've all heard the news uh on the multifamily front that the Prime 4 opportunity at LHC was actually canceled um last week. And um uh that uh there were two at least two projects that our office was tracking um uh that uh were um uh I think very good fits for that program, and so it's really unfortunate that uh that that program has been either paused or uh uh you know put on indefinite hold. We are working to figure out ways to support the projects that were applying for those funds, but um, you know, as we know, uh GAAP uh dollars for for multifamily projects. Um and and frankly, one of the projects was a great scattered site project in the lower ninth ward. Um that uh Mr. Neville was working on Blueberry Hill too. Um these projects uh you know were relying on those gap dollars, and so I think it just adds uh you know even more urgency and underscores the really tough challenges that we're faced when we're in a resource scarce environment. Um so we're we're hopeful that uh that opportunity will be restarted, but we don't have any line of sight on that. Um this does not impact uh other projects that I know we've talked about extensively here.