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LA ad hoc committee approves ULA implementation recommendations, orders studies on bonding and oversight
Summary
The City of Los Angeles ad hoc committee on Measure ULA voted to approve a package of implementation steps including a CAO feasibility report on revenue bonding, annual program metrics, staffing evaluations and several technical amendments. Item 8 — a substitute recommending interim homelessness assistance and a pilot tax credit for qualifying new affordable housing — passed 2–1.
The City of Los Angeles Ad Hoc Committee on Measure ULA on Wednesday approved a set of recommendations intended to strengthen implementation and oversight of the voter-approved Measure ULA while avoiding an immediate ballot amendment.
Chair Gerardo opened the meeting by noting public testimony and said the committee would pursue targeted fixes rather than weakening the measure. The committee approved the reappointments in items 1 and 2 and then moved forward on item 3, instructing the city administrative officer to study the feasibility of issuing bonds secured by future Measure ULA tax revenues and directing the Los Angeles Housing Department to report annually on specified program metrics and staffing needs. Miss Jen read the recommendations into the record.
The CAO was asked to report on bonding feasibility and funding for an assessment; the housing department was directed to report on staffing required to support bond-funded initiatives. The committee also asked the city attorney, in consultation with LAHD, to draft ordinance language clarifying that any recommendations from the ULA citizens oversight committee be transmitted to council as official documents and to return with an annual program evaluation that includes detailed metrics such as units produced by income category, geography, and apprenticeship and local hiring hours.
On item 4 the committee adopted Chair Gerardo’s amendment directing LAHD, in consultation with the city attorney and Office of Finance, to return within 30 days with a recommended structure for a narrowly tailored exemption process for 501(c)(3) nonprofit sellers that can demonstrate proceeds were used for deed-restricted affordable housing. The committee required any exemption be subject to enforceable affordable-housing covenants and requested a report on staffing and administrative framework to operate the exemption.
Item 5 was noted and filed. The committee continued item 6 (a proposed five-year, one-time exemption for Palisades fire-damaged homes) for later consideration. Item 7 — an amendment to the oversight committee eligibility rules proposed by Council Member Padilla — passed its amendment and was noted and filed.
A substitute set of recommendations for item 8, introduced by Chair Gerardo and presented as a replacement for the motion as agendized, was approved 2–1. The substitute asked LAHD and the oversight committee to draft program guidelines for a temporary interim homelessness assistance program (up to $30,000 per household per year for up to 1,000 households over three years) and to design a five-year pilot offering credits to reduce the effective Measure ULA tax rate to 1.5% for qualifying newly constructed multifamily or mixed-use projects that meet affordability and prevailing-wage requirements. Council Member Lee voted no, citing uncertainty about which ULA categories would fund the interim assistance.
The committee’s recommendations will proceed to the full council for consideration.
