Nov. 2--WEST PALM BEACH -- To the applause of a group of Dunbar Village residents, city commissioners unanimously agreed tonight to provide $3.5 million to the West Palm Beach Housing authority to help rebuild the city's most notorious housing project.

Several commissioners were initially wary of funding the project, something housing authority president Laurel Robinson knew would be an obstacle.

"It's tough times, I understand that, everyone is asking for money the city doesn't have," Laurel Robinson said.

"It's clear to everyone that Coleman Park has been a disenfranchised area, and it's expensive for the city to have an area that hasn't seen any new investment."

The city will only have to provide the money if the housing authority obtains the Hope VI grant, a federal grant that would provide $15 million to rebuild Dunbar. The housing authority would be responsible for matching three times that amount -- $45 million -- that it would raise from multiple sources, including bonds and the $3.5 million from the city.

The commissioners have voted before to fund the project, but Dunbar didn't receive the Hope VI grant with its 2004 attempt.

The hope is that this time, especially with the national attention Dunbar received after the gang rape and torture of a woman and her son in 2007, the 69-year old housing project will receive the grant.

"The big elephant in the room, is where is this money coming from?" commissioner Bill Moss said. "When we first did this, we had money. Now, we don't have any money."

Mayor Lois Frankel said the city would figure out a way to pay for it, including the sale of the city building on 45th Street and Windsor Avenue that is slated to become the county's homeless resource center.

Commissioner Kimberly Mitchell, who often opposes Frankel's spending, backed the proposal.

"Although we haven't been told exactly where the money is coming from, I think this project is too important for the community for us not to find the money," she said.

Brenda Ali was one of the Dunbar residents cheering when the commissioners voted for the funding.

"We've been denied so many times," Ali said to the commission. "We simply want to get a commitment from our city and our commissioners and our mayor that says we want to help this place."

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