A group that once had its sights set on millions of dollars for a new affordable housing trust fund is now willing to start with $100,000 from Lawrence City Hall that would be used to create a demonstration project showing how innovative the community can be in creating new housing options.

Leaders with Justice Matters and other affordable housing advocates on Tuesday asked city commissioners to create a new housing trust fund board and to fund the group with about $100,000 that was left over from a previous housing trust fund that faded away about 10 years ago.

“We want to show the community what an effectively managed trust fund can do to address affordable housing,” said Rev. Randall Weinkauf, pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church and a leader with the Justice Matters group.

Commissioners took no action on the item but said they would debate the idea at a July 7 meeting. The City Commission previously had discussed using about $75,000 of the $100,000 in leftover funds to hire a consultant that would provide a comprehensive study of the city’s housing market and its affordability issues. Weinkauf told commissioners he appreciated the sentiment but thought the money could be better spent on funding an actual project.

Weinkauf said his group would not seek any additional funds for affordable housing as part of the 2016 budget if commissioners approve the $100,000 request. At one point the group had been discussing the possibility of a $2 million to $3 million housing trust fund with city commissioners. The latest idea is that a new housing trust fund board would focus on creating a demonstration project to serve people who currently are on waiting lists for transitional housing.

Weinkauf said that could include people such as young adults who have aged out of the foster system, felons who are being released from incarceration, women who are fleeing from domestic violence and others who have a need for a place to stay for six to 18 months while they find more permanent accommodations.

The Justice Matters group estimates there currently is a waiting list of 75 people who need transitional housing in Lawrence. It has set a goal of eliminating that waiting list by Jan. 1, 2017.

Group members said their efforts to improve affordable housing clearly will take more than $100,000. Rebecca Buford, executive director of Tenants to Homeowners, said the $100,000 could be used as matching funds to leverage other grant opportunities that exist for affordable housing.

She said the group will need to get started soon, though. Buford said the housing trust fund ideally would have a project underway by the summer of 2016, when the City Commission is considering funding for the 2017 budget.

Ben MacConnell, lead organizer for Justice Matters, said a housing trust fund would need to seek a permanent source of funding — likely beginning in the 2017 budget — to do meaningful work in the future. MacConnell said there are a number of funding sources the city could consider. He has mentioned using a portion of the city’s transient guest tax charged to hotel visitors or even increasing the fines for downtown parking as revenue sources for a trust fund.

MacConnell said the trust fund also may have conversations about regulatory changes that could be made to encourage more affordable housing. Some communities have used inclusionary zoning codes, which generally require new housing developments to set aside a portion of their lots for inclusion in an affordable housing program. Justice Matters leaders said that may be a topic for future discussion in Lawrence, but they would rather look for options that could garner strong support from the housing and development industry.

Justice Matters is sponsoring a community-wide conference on affordable housing issues from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. July 17 at the Carnegie Building, at Ninth and New Hampshire streets, to hear how other communities are dealing with the topic.

City commissioners said they’ll discuss who should serve on a housing trust fund board at their July 7 meeting. Justice Matters suggested that the board include a member from the Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority, Tenants to Homeowners, Habitat for Humanity, Family Promise, a resident of an affordable housing project and a member of the faith community. City commissioners suggested they may also want to have a representative from the City Commission, from the County Commission and from the Lawrence homebuilding industry on the board.