Los Angeles City Council approves Measure ULA programs to support social housing and renter protections

The Los Angeles City Council approved 11 guidelines this week developed by Measure ULA, a 2022 ballot initiative known as the “mansion tax.” 

The measure took effect in April 2023 and has subsidized housing development, helped seniors stay in their homes and funded attorney services for renters facing eviction. It has also helped keep affordable housing from reverting to market rate. 

Maria Gonzalez, a resident of South Los Angeles and member of T.R.U.S.T. South LA, has already benefitted from Measure ULA. She said a few months ago, she and her family were about to lose their apartment, but with the rental assistance program provided in the first round of ULA programs, she was able to save her home. 

“That gave my family and me the ability to stay put and no longer fear the possibility of being evicted or unhoused,” said Gonzalez. “I’m so grateful, not only for us but for the thousands more who will stay housed because of these funds and protections.”

Maria Briones, another tenant from Los Angeles, said ULA’s protections have saved seniors from becoming homeless while creating better options for renters. 

“I was forced into homelessness by relentless harassment from my landlord, who refused to address code violations until my building became uninhabitable,” she said. 

Briones, a tenant leader with the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), said with Measure ULA funds backing the community-written guidelines, Los Angeles will have powerful tools to help those who need it.

Measure ULA is set to increase taxes on the sale of properties valued at $5 million or above in the City of Los Angeles. 

During the press conference, City Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez said that Measure ULA has provided emergency rental assistance to 11,000 residents, ensuring they stay home. 

“So it's no wonder that for the first time in six years, homelessness has dropped, and I believe this is part of a reason that has happened,” he said.

Soto-Martinez said the goal is to make social housing permanently affordable and run by tenants, and while it will take a while to get there, they are on the right path. 

The guidelines

Among the eleven guidelines approved, the affordable housing program includes the creation of multifamily affordable housing, acquisition, and rehabilitation of affordable housing, alternative models for permanent affordable housing, homeownership opportunities and operating assistance to support housing projects. 

In the homelessness prevention plan, the guidelines include short-term emergency assistance, an income support program for at-risk seniors and people with disabilities, eviction defense/prevention, tenant outreach and education and protections from tenant harassment.

Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA Coalition, which campaigned for Measure ULA, said a new housing reality is coming after the L.A. City Council approved the guidelines.  

“In less than two years since it went into effect, ULA has become the backbone of L.A.’s approach to end the housing crisis,” he said.  

The ULA’s Citizen Oversight Committee wrote the program guidelines to show the housing crisis in Los Angeles that has affected people at every income level. Over the past three years, the unprecedentedly broad United to House LA coalition, comprising experts, organizers, and other representatives from dozens of community and labor groups across Los Angeles, created the framework for the guidelines and won broad voter support.

Concerns about the Measure

Originally, Measure ULA was expected to raise about $900 million annually to subsidize social housing by taxing the big mansions. However, in August 2024, the Los Angeles Office of Finance showed that only 46% of the revenues came from selling those mansions. The rest comes from selling other real estate like offices, retail and apartment buildings. Until October, Measure ULA had collected $480 million. However, advocates guarantee that about $4 billion in revenues is projected over the program's first decade.