Activists celebrate United to House LA (ULA) citizen oversight committee strategies to address the housing crisis — including social housing, tenant protections, and income assistance for seniors that have already helped 11,000 stay housed in the first year.

LOS ANGELES—In a unanimous vote Thursday, the ULA Citizens Oversight Committee approved a set of permanent program guidelines that will help seniors stay in their homes, fund attorneys for renters threatened with eviction, keep affordable housing from reverting to market rate, launch social housing efforts in the city of Los Angeles and more.

“Los Angeles’s housing crisis hurts all of us, and it requires us to work harder and look farther ahead than we have so far,” said Laura Raymond, a member of the citizens oversight committee. “Experts say that the commodification of housing drives homelessness in Los Angeles, and the ULA blueprint is an alternative to that, built on proven approaches, and ready to put into practice today.”

Revenues from 2022’s voter-approved Measure ULA, which have totaled $340 million since April 2023 and are expected to top $3 billion over the next ten years, will fund the ambitious set of programs. All revenues come from the “mansion tax” on the top 4% of home sales. Opponents of the tax were unsuccessful at trying to block the measure through failed lawsuits and a withdrawn ballot measure.

“By a fifteen-point margin, voters approved ULA, and one of the measure’s most popular elements was its citizen oversight committee,” said Zerita Jones, another committee member. “Getting housing experts and advocates from outside City Hall means that people who are connected to life in the housing crisis and the best ideas to go beyond business as usual are at the table, lighting the way forward.”

That committee has met regularly since the measure passed and amassed a significant track record well in advance of today’s vote. Its first year of implementation saw it overtake both HHH funds and federal affordable housing grants as a single source of affordable housing dollars. In that time, ULA has kept 11,000 Angelenos in their homes through rental assistance and began construction on 795 affordable homes, creating 10,000 union construction jobs.

“The eleven programs passed today, paid for by a tax on millionaires and billionaires, will transform our efforts to build affordable housing and prevent homelessness,” said oversight committee member Alma Morales, an organizer with SEIU 2015. “It’s powerful to be charged by the voters with oversight of this fund, and I’m proud of the blueprint this committee of experts assembled to keep people in their homes, change the way we design and build affordable housing, and even create new opportunities for ownership.”

The proposed guidelines, the culmination of 3 years of work by the unprecedentedly broad United to House LA coalition, include income support for seniors, tenant protections, rental assistance to prevent homelessness, and an innovative social housing program.

The ULA Citizen Oversight Committee will now transmit the program guidelines to the Los Angeles City Council for review and approval.

“In under two years, ULA has gone from the brainchild of an unprecedented coalition to an integral part of the city’s budget and programs and the most powerful tool we have to end the housing crisis,” said Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition. “ULA is already funding comprehensive, permanent solutions to Los Angeles’ housing and homelessness crisis, and with this blueprint we’ll see a new housing reality even faster.”

The eleven policies are:

Affordable Housing Program

Multifamily Affordable Housing: The Multifamily Affordable Housing Program will catalyze the development of affordable housing.

Alternative Models for Permanent Affordable Housing: The Alternative Models for Permanent Affordable Housing Program will facilitate the creation of innovative, permanently affordable housing models while cultivating resident leadership and ownership within housing projects.

Acquisition and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing: The Acquisition and Rehabilitation of Affordable Housing Program will preserve existing subsidized and naturally-occurring affordable housing by providing the funding needed for acquisition and rehabilitation, and supporting a pathway to resident ownership of housing.

Homeownership Opportunities: The Homeownership Opportunities Program will promote long-term housing security and wealth-building via homeownership assistance for lower-income Angelenos.

Capacity-Building: The Capacity-Building Program will support successful outcomes for resident-led housing models, including tenant engagement, leadership, management, and ownership of housing.

Operating Assistance: The Operating Assistance Program will provide operating support for projects, in order to support the long-term stability of affordable housing.

Homelessness Prevention Program

Short-Term Emergency Assistance: The Short-Term Emergency Assistance Program will provide short-term emergency funding to tenants who are at risk of losing their housing due to economic shocks.

Income Support for Rent-Burdened At-Risk Seniors and Persons with Disabilities (Income Support Program): The Income Support Program will provide income assistance to lower-income renters — specifically, rent-burdened households with seniors and/or persons with disabilities that are at risk of becoming homeless.

Eviction Defense/Prevention: The Eviction Defense and Prevention Program will provide funding for a right-to-counsel program to provide housing-related legal services to lower-income households threatened with eviction.

Tenant Outreach and Education: The Tenant Outreach and Education Program will provide outreach, education, and navigation services to help ensure that tenants are educated about their rights, understand how to exercise their rights, and avail themselves of available resources.

Protections from Tenant Harassment: The Protections from Tenant Harassment Program will fund monitoring and enforcement of protections against tenant harassment, and support education and outreach activities related to tenant rights.

About United to House LA

United to House LA brings together a unique coalition from the labor movement, affordable housing developers, and social justice and community-based organizations to work on the common goals of affordable housing, homelessness prevention, tenant protection, and good-paying jobs in the city of Los Angeles. The Coalition consists of over 240 organizations that worked to pass Measure ULA on the November 2022 ballot and which continue to advocate for the implementation of one of the most progressive and transformative affordable housing measures in the United States