When I speak with business leaders across Los Angeles about how to ensure a thriving future for our region, nothing comes up more often than solving our housing and homelessness crisis.
To our collective credit, we have not turned away from this existential threat. Our investments since 2017 have brought more than 114,000 people inside, into permanent homes. And perhaps just as important, we’ve learned explicit lessons about what works.
Today we’re at a critical turning point. Concerned citizens have put Measure A on the LA County ballot, and it’s a bold new way to tackle this crisis. It will repeal and replace the current approach with one that’s grounded in data and focused on outcomes – requiring clear goals, regular audits and removal of funding from programs that don’t generate results. It’s worth our support.
Measure A does what previous efforts didn’t do enough of: expand our housing supply. It’s a strategy shift that’s good for business, and a smarter approach than what we’ve done before because of two key principles: it gets to the root cause of our crisis and prevents people from falling into homelessness in the first place.
Generating economic impact
I’ll start with the bottom line for our economy: every dollar spent on Measure A will generate 2.5 times that in economic impact. The measure will generate more than $3.1 billion of new economic output in L.A. every single year, supporting more than 25,800 jobs. This activity will come in the form of housing construction, housing preservation, homelessness prevention and homeless and mental health services.
The focus on housing is especially important. We know the crisis we see today is largely a result of the inadequate supply of affordable housing and we also know how impossible it can be to profitably build and preserve affordable units in L.A. What we’ve needed is a countywide approach to preserving and building affordable housing, one that gives more local control and dedicated funding to our 88 cities as well as technical assistance and capacity support to update local housing policies. And we finally have it.
California legislators created a secret weapon for L.A. County, the new Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA), which works like our Metro authority, but for housing. Using Measure A revenues, LACAHSA will unlock financing tools that have sparked housing booms in other cities but have been untapped in L.A. until now, using some of the same tools that the Community Redevelopment Agencies once used.
A key failure of our current system is the costly, slow “capital stack” process, forcing developers to assemble multiple loans over multiple years. LACAHSA will change that into one single financing source, bypassing the public financing and tax credit models that slow down housing production in L.A. This paves the way for private capital to fund new homes across the county with more flexibility and speed than ever before.
Making L.A. more affordable
Passing Measure A will establish an ongoing source of funding to make living in L.A. more affordable and decrease the inflow of people into homelessness. It will replace our existing quarter-cent sales tax for homelessness with a half-cent tax focused on affordable housing and homelessness prevention. For a typical family, it will cost an additional $5 a month — less than a Starbucks latte (with no effect on grocery bills, rent or other untaxed items).
Equally important to what Measure A will do is the change in how it will work, with a greater focus on accountability and transparency. Measure A sets up a public-private oversight body that includes business representatives and academic experts. It sets five mandatory outcomes —including targets for how many new units of affordable housing are built, how many people move out of encampments and into permanent housing; and how many people suffering with mental illness get help. If programs want continued funding, they will need to meet specific goals.
Finally, we can’t forget what is at stake. More than 57,400 people today receive services or housing that would disappear if no funds replace the sunsetting quarter-cent sales tax. That means that homelessness would go up by at least 28%.
As we prepare to welcome the world to L.A. in 2028, our region stands at a crossroads. Will we ensure the affordable housing we need for our seniors, students and working families and care for our most vulnerable neighbors?
With Measure A, we have a smart business plan to finally close our housing shortfall. We can boost our economy and continue to provide services that help people come home and stay housed, all delivered with flexibility and accountability. We can rebuild our communities and create a future where all of us can thrive.
Elise Buik is the president and chief executive of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.
