Jurado to Lead City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Measure ULA Reform

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado will serve as chair of the newly established three-member Ad Hoc Committee on Measure United to House L.A., which will lead a review of the 2022-voter approved housing measure and recommend potential reforms to the policy.

City Council members John Lee and Imelda Padilla will serve on the committee with Jurado. The three will review pending City Council matters related to Measure ULA, including an analysis of Measure ULA revenues, expenditures, housing production outcomes and broader economic impacts.

“Los Angeles voters made a clear statement when they passed Measure ULA. They want the city to take bold action to address homelessness and the housing crisis,” Jurado said in a statement. “As chair of this committee, my goal is to bring people to the table, examine the data and ensure we are delivering on the promise of this measure while supporting equitable outcomes for all Angelenos.”

Through public hearings and stakeholder engagement, the committee will examine how the program is functioning, identify potential improvements, and develop recommendations for the full City Council.

“Our responsibility now is to make sure this policy is delivering real results,” Jurado added. “That means listening to residents, renters and community leaders and working toward solutions that move Los Angeles forward.”

On March 4, the City Council unanimously approved the motion to create the committee. It was introduced by Jurado and Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, prompted by concerns the measure is negatively impacting affordable housing production. The measure could also be vulnerable to a possible threat led by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The tax on properties above $5.3 million is not just for mansions but apartments, commercial buildings and other developments. The measure has raised more than $1 billion, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department.

The ad hoc committee is expected to be dissolved no later than April 30 unless it is extended by the council.

Councilwoman Nithya Raman, chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee and a supporter of Measure ULA, sought to change the measure via a June ballot measure.

She proposed to carve out exemptions for newly constructed multifamily, commercial and mixed-used buildings from the tax for up to 15 years, and exempt properties impacted by natural disasters like the Palisades Fire, from the tax for up to three years.

Raman, who is running for mayor in the June 2 primary, also sought to introduce language that would allow traditional lenders to participate in funding ULA-supported affordable housing projects by changing financing terms, allowing affordable housing groups first rights on buildings being sold and to require the City Attorney’s Office to complete legal review of ULA-related actions within 90 days of council approval.

Studies, including one from UCLA, have shown that the measure slowed apartment construction. The studies estimated that ULA is preventing the construction of at least 2,000 market-rate units a year, as well as hundreds of affordable units.

Shane Phillips, housing initiative manager at the UCLA Lewis Center for Regional Policy Studies, previously told City News Service that sales of properties have fallen much more than in other cities in Los Angeles County — about 50% more.

“Bottom line: Taxing privately funded mixed-income apartments to subsidize publicly funded apartments is lowering the supply of affordable housing in the city, and it’s making housing more unaffordable for everyone by worsening the housing shortage,” Phillips said.

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

“ULA is working, and the rest of L.A.’s real estate market is rapidly adjusting to it,” Donlin said in a statement. “It would be catastrophic to give away L.A.’s best tool in the fight against the housing crisis as a developer tax break because of sloppy math and a rush to judgment.”

Meanwhile, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association has argued that Measure ULA violates both the state Constitution and the 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%.

The coalition backing the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 submitted more than 1.3 million signatures to election officials on Feb. 25, according to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

The association previously said the process is expected to be complete by the end of April.

If the projected total of valid signatures is 110% of the number needed to qualify, the measure will be on the November ballot.