Hotels in the Anaheim Tourism Improvement District are set to free up about $3 million in annual funds to go toward workforce housing in the city.

The Anaheim tourism district is a cluster of 93 hotels around the Disneyland area, Angel Stadium and Honda Center that collect a 2% fee on each night’s stay that they pool toward tourism promotion and transportation improvements. That is on top of the 15% city tax assessed on all hotel stays in Anaheim.

The City Council recently approved changes to the Anaheim tourism district and the way its revenue is spent to direct some of the 2% toward housing needs.

This fiscal year, revenue from the Anaheim tourism district was projected at $32 million, with about $22 million going toward marketing and the bulk of the remaining funds earmarked for transportation improvements.

Pending a second, procedural vote by the council expected next week, about 9% those annual funds the hotels collect and pool together will be redirected toward affordable housing programs for hospitality workers starting Feb. 1.

According to city staff, that would equal about $3 million this fiscal year set aside to support workforce housing. And as hotels see more business, the housing fund would see more money.

Discussions of these affordable housing funds started in September, when some hoteliers suggested using some of their money to help their employees, many of whom they acknowledge struggle to afford to live in the city where they work.

“Their employees either live very far, and are struggling to get into the hotels to work, or they are living in conditions that are not helpful to the health of their families,” said Councilmember Norma Campos Kurtz, whose District 4 seat includes the Anaheim Resort.

“Also, there is a great desire of some of those employees to establish themselves in Anaheim, to buy a home, become homeowners, part of the community and the programs that (the hoteliers) are considering will enable them to do that,” she said.

The workforce housing funding would go into the city’s recently created housing trust fund, but with a subaccount created for the tourism district money. Councilmembers also agreed to give a new five-member committee final say over spending from that subaccount.

The housing trust fund, which the council has said can be used to help finance affordable communities, provide first-time homebuyer down payments and provide rental assistance, got a big infusion of money from the Walt Disney Co. in May, part of the community benefits package the company committed to when the City Council approved its DisneylandFoward development plan last year. That $15 million added to $1 million Anaheim received in federal funding. Disney is set to deliver another $15 million for affordable housing in the next five years.

The council is also supporting over changes to the tourism district, including incorporating new timeshares, some spending on special events and improvements in the resort area and expanding what kinds of transportation projects could be funded.

The city has been eyeing options for a transit system that would link the Platinum Triangle area — which includes Angel Stadium, Honda Center and ARTIC train station — to the resort area with gondolas, autonomous cars and trams among the innovations that have been mentioned.

Revenue from the Anaheim tourism district that currently supports transportation could also now support future transit systems that emerge in that area.