Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado called Thursday for allotting more than $360 million to developers and nonprofits building and preserving affordable housing projects.
The appropriation, which requires City Council approval, would fund 80 projects, with construction of 1,528 new units and repairs to more than 2,500 affordable units in need of work.
“This investment of $360 million is to build, preserve and enhance affordable housing across Los Angeles,” Jurado said at a news conference in Boyle Heights. “That means more affordable housing built in our neighborhoods, more existing housing preserved so families aren’t pushed out.”
The funding for the projects comes largely from the city’s United to House L.A. tax — also called the “mansion tax” — which imposes a 4% tax on property sales between $5.3 million and $10.6 million and a 5.5% on housing sales above that.
The city announced the opening of applications for the project in September and the Los Angeles Housing Department on Monday released a report to the City Council detailing exactly which projects would be receiving funding — and how much.
Since it passed in 2022, the ULA tax has raised more than $1.1 billion in revenue through more than 1,500 real estate transactions, but much of the funding had remained untouched partially due to fears the tax could be overturned in court.
The city passed a $150-million spending plan for ULA dollars in 2023 and another $425 million in 2025.
The city disbursements detailed in the housing department’s report include $44 million toward a 100-unit housing project near Crypto.com Arena.
“This is Measure ULA in action, turning the will of the voters into real solutions for our communities,” said Jurado, who chairs the council’s recently created Ad-Hoc Committee on Measure ULA.
The committee is considering changes to the law, which many in the real estate industry believe has chilled development in the city.
On Thursday, Bass and Jurado also announced a $14-million investment in ULA funding for a new “Emergency Income Support Program.”
The program opens up for applications this week and could allocate up to $12,500 for households of 1-2 people and up to $19,000 for households with five or more members.
Applicants for the program have to live in the city, include a senior or person with a disability in the household, and be experiencing rent burden among other criteria.
The $14 million is expected to serve about 1,000 households, said Abigail Marquez, the general manager of the city’s Community Investment for Families Department.
Bass said the two investments go together.
“With the release of $14 million in housing assistance and $300 million for housing, this is just one way the city is breaking away from the underinvestment of the past to instead focus on prevention and housing production so Angelenos don’t fall into homelessness in the first place and so we have the supply of housing that we need to drive the cost down,” Bass said.
Bass is seeking reelection in the city’s June 2 primary, in which the high cost of housing in Los Angeles has emerged as an issue in the mayoral and council district contests.
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