Facing dire straits in its funding, the Ames office of Housing and Urban Development has asked the Ames City Council for financial assistance.

The plea from the affordable housing provider occupied most of the discussion at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

Vanessa Baker-Latimer, the city’s housing coordinator, said that after signing contracts for the upcoming year, HUD had to cut funding, and the department only approved a six-month budget, as opposed to the yearly budget that is normally produced.

She said the budget is created by the federal government, not the local office.

“[The federal government] could reduce the budget further,” Baker-Latimer said. “It’s an unknown.”

HUD received housing contracts for 202 individuals but only has the money to fund 189 of them. Baker-Latimer said the office should be able to find funds to cover 192 of the 202 contracts, but requested additional funding from the city.

Councilman Steve Goodhue said he was nervous about funding HUD because nobody is certain what will happen to the group after the six-month budget has expired.

In addition to housing contracts, HUD’s administrative costs were considered for cutting.

Inspections and paperwork, for example, used to be handled by the local HUD office. After an employee left, HUD was forced to outsource the building inspections.

The issue was not resolved and will be further discussed in future meetings.

The council also passed the second reading of a ban on building and demolition in Campustown. At its Aug. 10 meeting, the City Council changed the name of the ordinance from a moratorium to the Development and Demolition Deferral Overlay District. If the ordinance is passed a third time, and the mayor signs it, certain Campustown properties and other Ames locations will face a building and demolition ban.

In other business:

* The city council approved several liquor licenses, including licenses for Stephens Auditorium, Fisher Theater, Hilton Coliseum and the Scheman Building. Ames Mayor Ted Tedesco congratulated the venues for not having any license violations in the past year.

* The council approved all of Iowa State’s requests for fireworks on campus.

* It approved funding as well as street closings and vending licenses for the Ames All-American Weekend Sept. 3 and 4. The council also agreed to pay for the event’s electricity use.