Background: United to House LA Coalition
Creators of the Los Angeles “Mansion Tax”, Measure ULA
Origins of the United to House LA (UHLA) Coalition
In 2019, community organizers and labor leaders came together around a big idea to transform our housing systems in order to address our community’s housing affordability and homelessness crises. Eventually comprising over 240 organizations, this coalition merged decades of on-the-ground expertise in tenants rights, affordable housing development, union labor standards, services for the unhoused, and community ownership strategies. Together they formed the United to House LA (UHLA) coalition
Severe Housing Needs in Los Angeles
UHLA aimed to respond to the tremendous need caused by decades of disinvestment and racist housing, policing, urban planning and land use practices. The County of Los Angeles has seen its unhoused population rise to over 75,000 people Formal, informal and illegal evictions (often preceded or caused by tenant harassment) have been a major driver of homelessness with over 40,000 recorded evictions taking place each year Nearly half of City residents are rent burdened while Los Angeles lacks over 180,000 affordable housing units necessary to meet the need.
UHLA’s First Big Win: Measure ULA
In the face of well-funded corporate opposition, the UHLA coalition authored, qualified and passed an historic citizen’s initiative known as Measure ULA Sometimes referred to as the “mansion tax”, ULA was passed by City of LA voters in November 2022 creating:
● a perpetual revenue source for Los Angeles in the form of a real estate transfer tax on properties sold for over $5 million;
● eleven affordable/social housing and homelessness prevention programs (see Appendix A) funded by the ULA tax revenues. In its first year, ULA raised over $300 million, with monthly revenues now ranging between $25-$35 million; and
● a Citizens Oversight Committee tasked with approving program details, reviewing budgets and monitoring progress.
UHLA’s Implementation of Measure ULA
Since its passage in November 2022, the coalition has kept the momentum going into ULA’s implementation phase by:
● Ensuring the ULA Citizens Oversight Committee was formed and activated, in coordination with the LA Housing Department;
● Coordinating a community and coalition effort to develop program guidelines for all 11 ULA programs, bringing together over 140 organizations to develop the vision and details for each program;
● Working with City partners to finalize Program Guidelines for each ULA program;
● Helping defend ULA against a statewide repeal measure (now removed by the Courts from the ballot) and three lawsuits, which all have failed
First-Year Outcomes of Measure ULA
In only its first year, ULA has:
● Kept 11,000 Angelenos housed through ULA’s rental assistance;
● Begun building 795 new affordable homes funded by ULA;
● Created 10,000 union construction jobs responsible for building affordable housing funded by ULA;
● Accelerated the passage of a citywide Right to Counsel motion that will be funded by ULA to protect low-income tenants from eviction; and
● Spurred the introduction of a new social housing policy package that will complement ULA’s social housing programs.
Going Forward: A Long-Term Commitment to Success for Measure ULA and Beyond
Immediately following the passage of Measure ULA the UHLA coalition committed to 4 Big Goals:
(a) Protecting ULA from ongoing attacks in the courts, at the ballot box, through legislation and via exposure to loopholes;
(b) Implementing ULA to ensure revenues are collected; the Citizens Oversight Committee was established; and the programs are designed and implemented as intended;
(c) Promoting ULA to ensure the public maintains support for the measure by raising awareness of its impact; and
(d) Building the UHLA coalition for the long term to advance strategies that build on the infrastructure and successes of Measure ULA, such as year-round canvassing of tenants, institutional reform, policy change and political campaigns
Resources for Additional Information
Check out these additional sources:
UHLA coalition: https://unitedtohousela com/
ULA Citizens Oversight Committee: https://ulacoc org/
LAHD ULA Resource page: https://housing2.lacity.org/ula
Report on ULA’s first year: https://oxy.edu/ula
Appendix A: Measure ULA Programs and Expenditure Allocations
