Community members oppose motion to change Measure ULA

After hundreds of community members attended L.A. City Hall to oppose a motion to change Measure ULA, the Los Angeles City Council declined to hear a rushed motion (Raman–Harris-Dawson) to place a measure on the June 2026 Los Angeles City ballot that would amend the so-called mansion tax. Instead, the measure was sent to legislative committees for further review.

Proponents of amending the tax allege it has limited housing unit construction.

The motion was introduced on Friday by Councilwoman Nithya Raman, chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, and seconded by Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson. 

Voters approved Measure ULA in November 2022. It went into effect in April 2023, placing a 4% tax on property sales above $5 million and a 5.5% tax on sales above $10 million. Proponents of the measure celebrated the first $1 billion raised by the tax in early January.

Money from Measure ULA funds programs supporting affordable housing production and homelessness prevention.

“Let’s remember why we are here,” said Yvonne Wheeler, President of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO. “United to House LA was not written in a back room. It was written out of lived experience – by housing advocates, policy experts, and working people who see the human cost of this crisis every single day. And then it was overwhelmingly approved by the voters of this city. Construction workers voted for it. Homecare workers voted for it. Teachers voted for it. Nurses, janitors, grocery workers – the very people who keep Los Angeles running – voted for it.”

Critics of the proposal have argued that the measure has chilled the production of apartments and other multi-family housing.

Raman's proposal includes exemptions for newly constructed multifamily, commercial and mixed-use buildings from the tax for up to 15 years. It would exempt properties impacted by natural disasters like the Palisades Fire from the tax for up to three years.

The proposal would also encourage traditional lenders to fund ULA-funded affordable housing projects by changing financing terms, allowing affordable housing groups first rights on buildings being sold and would require the city attorney to complete legal review of Measure ULA-related actions within 90 days of City Council approval.

Joe Donlin, director of United to House LA, the coalition that campaigned for the passage of Measure ULA, criticized Raman's proposal, warning that it would weaken a critical tool to help with the homelessness crisis.

“Measure ULA is working," said Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition. "Hundreds of affordable homes are rising across the city and we’re about to learn the results of the biggest affordable housing funding round in our city’s history—by a factor of five, and a standard for the future. More than 150,000 renters have gotten help staying housed, with direct financial assistance for more than 10,000 at risk of homelessness, including many seniors and people with disabilities. It’s irresponsible to propose changes without even an analysis of how much it would cost. Why would we give ‘The People’s Billion' to the billionaires who already have so much? ”

He added that it was irresponsible to propose changes without an analysis of how much it would cost or to engage with affordable housing advocates.

Critics of Measure ULA have argued the tax has slowed commercial development and property sales and has hurt the availability of affordable housing.

But Antonio Sanchez, political director of Local 11 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said developers are starting new projects. 

“L.A.’s real estate markets are adapting to Measure ULA, as we thought they would,” said Antonio Sanchez, “Headlines show that sales are booming. Multiple metrics show that the sky-is-falling talk about Measure ULA from last year, as experts said, is all washed up. Why give tax breaks to developers who are already getting back to work?”

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has argued that Measure ULA violates both the state constitution and Los Angeles City Charter.

The association is working to qualify an initiative for the November ballot that would repeal Measure ULA and other real estate transfer taxes higher than 0.11%.

Additional reporting by City News Service.