L.A. municipal voters will be faced with a decision this March: Should we dramatically slow down housing construction in a city that’s already in the throes of a housing crisis?

Before you answer, consider the impact of placing a moratorium on residential and commercial construction, eliminating thousands of jobs, and choking off millions of dollars in tax revenue for city services.

The decision should be a resounding “no,” but because supporters of Measure S have been anything but transparent, these negative impacts might not be obvious to you. What started as one man’s opposition to a building next to his office is now being contrived as an effort to save affordable housing and stop a couple of large projects. The reality is that Measure S, if passed, would dramatically reduce the construction of buildings to employ people and the construction of all housing, both affordable and market rate.

Under Measure S, any new construction that would require a zoning change or a General Plan amendment would be blocked entirely for two years. Our community land-use plans are in dire need of updating because they are three to five decades old, but Measure S would hold much needed new housing hostage while the General Plan is revised – a slow process that Measure S does nothing to speed up.

Today, Los Angeles has the least affordable rent in the United States. Two hundred and seventy thousand Angeleno households pay half or more of their income in rent and thousands more are homeless. The most effective way to combat this is to build more housing for our city’s residents. Measure S would make this impossible for at least two years, and potentially a lot longer.

When voters are asked about their concerns for the city, they say homelessness is one of their top priorities. That was borne out in November when more than three-quarters of L.A. voters approved Proposition HHH to build permanent supportive housing for our most vulnerable neighbors. All of us who championed the campaign in support of Measure HHH are now engaged in opposing Measure S.

Measure S would deny thousands of Angelenos a chance for safety and stability in a home. Though the measure’s proponents claim to include an exemption for affordable housing, the reality is far different. Last year, City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana proposed converting underutilized parking lots and city-owned properties to building sites for affordable housing. All but one of those sites would require a General Plan Amendment and would thus be eliminated from consideration.

Shrunken economy

According to an economic impact analysis by Beacon Economics commissioned by groups opposed to the referendum, Measure S would shrink L.A.’s economy by $3.8 billion in only two years at a cost of 24,000 jobs. The majority of those lost jobs would come in construction, and the measure would cost the city’s public treasury more than $70 million a year from losses in property and sales tax revenue, permit fees, Quimby and Finn fees, and hotel taxes.

But these negative impacts only account for the first two years of the effects from Measure S – and the two-year moratorium, outlined in Section 4 – is only part of the story. What its supporters won’t tell you – but you can see for yourself in the text of the initiative – is that Measure S also includes a “silent moratorium” that will extend these negative consequences far into the future.

Section 5 of Measure S includes severe, even permanent restrictions on the use of General Plan amendments for residential and commercial projects far into the future. With General Plan amendments off the table, development for housing and job creation will have to wait until community plans can be fully updated, a process that, in Los Angeles, typically takes 10 years.

But even 10 years might be optimistic. Backers of Measure S have signaled repeatedly that they will fight to prevent updates in our community plans. They are especially opposed to transit-oriented development that has the potential to make it possible for people to live in Los Angeles without an automobile. This “silent moratorium” has the potential to stall the creation of housing, jobs and tax revenue to pay for city services for more than a decade.

The backers of Measure S have done their best to divert attention from their initiative’s true effects. It’s up to voters to say no at the ballot box to sabotaging our economy and tying our city to an unending housing crisis.

Gary Toebben is chief executive of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. Ron Miller is executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building & Construction Trades Council.