City Council is recommending that the administration pour $5.6 million in new federal dollars into homeless services and pump $7.1 million into a city fund to boost assistance to developers creating apartments and homes with reduced rents and price tags.

Fifth District Councilwoman Stephanie A. Lynch, chair of the council’s Education and Human Services Committee, sought to lay out options for using the new $5.6 million the federal government plans to release later this year from the American Rescue Plan.

Under a resolution she introduced, the money could be used to develop a one-stop service center that could include housing and wrap-around services for the homeless.

Other options, Ms. Lynch said, could be to provide funds to enable shelter operators to expand their bed space as the Salvation Army is seeking to do at its new home in North Side, or provide rental subsidies to those in need of shelter.

Ms. Lynch and other council members noted that the resolution is aimed at helping the city prepare for Oct. 1, when a winter shelter needs to be in place.

“That’s just four months away,” 2nd District Councilwoman Katherine Jordan noted.

The City Council’s 9-0 vote to support the resolution followed a meeting of the committee at which Sherrill Hampton, city director of Housing and Community Development, indicated that her department is considering shelter options.

Ms. Hampton confirmed that the city is now in talks with officials in Henrico and Chesterfield counties about creating a regional center to serve the homeless. The counties collectively are to receive about $5.4 million, which would provide $11 million in new, one-time funding.

The city also is in talks with Virginia Union University about a temporary, two-year lease to use a now-closed motel at Lombardy Street and Brook Road that VUU purchased for a development that has yet to proceed, Ms. Hampton said.

She said the city also is eyeing the former Circle Shopping Center in South Side as a potential site for a homeless services center.

Last year, the city paid a network of motels in North Side and South Side to provide shelter for homeless people during the winter.

Ms. Lynch hopes the new federal money can be a catalyst for creating a year-round operation for the homeless, similar to regional service operations now available in Virginia Beach, Norfolk and Northern Virginia.

Separately, City Council approved 9-0 a resolution that calls on the city to add $7.1 million to its Affordable Housing Trust Fund, using a portion of the initial $77 million in American Rescue Plan dollars that are to come directly to the city this year. A second $77 million is to come next year.