A City Council committee has quietly blocked Mayor Levar M. Stoney’s plan to earmark millions of dollars flowing into the general fund to aid development of lower-cost apartments and homes.

As the mayor announced on Sept. 28, the money was to come from residential properties graduating from an abatement program that had reduced their real estate taxes for seven years. The plan proposed the first $2 million to be included in the 2021-22 budget and an additional $2 million to be added each year thereafter.

That did not suit 9th District Councilman Michael J. Jones and 4th District Councilwoman Kristen N. Larson, chair and vice chair, respectively, of the three-member Finance and Economic Development Committee.

Both turned thumbs down on the mayor’s proposal at the Oct. 15 meeting in at least temporarily derailing the investment.

The third member, 6th District Councilwoman Ellen F. Robertson, endorsed the proposal to provide a dedicated stream of funding for the city’s chronically underfunded Affordable Housing Trust Fund, orAHTF, that provides support to developers willing to create lower-cost housing.

Ms. Larson noted that the council already has approved a resolution calling for the administration to put $10 million into the 2021-22 budget that begins July 1 to beef up the ATHF and was leery of designating a specific source. That would be a big jump from the $2.9 mil-lion provided in the current 2020-21 budget.

Dr. Jones, too, felt that “this could just be a budget item.” He also wanted more information on whether the city could borrow money to increase the trust fund as other communities have done and, if so, what the timing would be.

Mayor Stoney has not embraced the council’s non-binding resolution. It is unclear whether he would propose the full $10 million for the AHTF that the council has called for if he is re-elected.

Hisannouncedplantakesamoregradualapproach to reaching $10 million. Rather than doing it in one year, his proposal called for the AHTF to grow to $10 million in five budget years and to $20 million in 10 budget years to aid in developing 10,000 new units of affordable housing by 2031.

Under his plan, by 2031, the AHTF would cumulatively collect $110 million to use to support private development of such housing. But for now that idea is on hold.