David Wagner
covers housing in Southern California, a place where the lack of affordable housing contributes to homelessness.
Published November 15, 2024 5:00 AM
Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, the board chair of LACAHSA, stands on a city hall balcony and points to a housing project under construction.
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David Wagner/LAist
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Topline:
In an election driven by concerns over rising consumer costs, voters in Los Angeles County did something remarkable — they chose to pay more for everyday goods. The leaders of a new agency tasked with spending new sales tax revenue from the passage of Measure A sat down with LAist to discuss their plans for creating new affordable housing.
The big picture goal: Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson will chair the board of the L.A. County Housing Solutions Agency, or LACAHSA (pronounced like the Spanish word for home, “la casa”). He said past spending was focused primarily on getting people off the street, but LACAHSA will focus on building the kind of housing needed to get them out of shelters and into a permanent home.
The details: Measure A is projected to raise about $1.1 billion dollars a year, and about 36% of that funding will be funneled to LACAHSA . The agency’s mandate will be to fund the development of new affordable homes, preserve L.A.’s existing lower-rent housing and prevent people from losing the housing they already have.
A possible hurdle: Measure A’s passage was overshadowed by a much bigger change in this election: the return of former President Donald Trump to the White House. Housing experts say his administration could slash support for new low-income housing across the country, including in L.A.
Read on… to learn how many new units of affordable housing could be created in L.A. under Measure A.
In an election driven by concerns over rising consumer costs, voters in Los Angeles County did something remarkable — they chose to pay more for everyday goods.
At last count, more than 57% of L.A. voters supported Measure A. It will levy a sales tax of half a cent for every dollar spent in order to pay for ongoing local homeless services and new affordable housing efforts.
The tax is projected to raise about $1.1 billion dollars a year. Most of the funding will go toward the kinds of homeless services already funded by Measure H, an existing quarter-cent tax voters approved in 2017.
More than a third of Measure A funding (35.75% to be exact) will be funneled into a new entity called the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, or LACAHSA (pronounced like the Spanish word for home, “la casa”).
LACAHSA board chair Rex Richardson, who is also the mayor of Long Beach, said Measure H was focused primarily on getting people off the street.
“The question now is, where do people go after they go into a shelter?” Richardson said. “This, finally, is a tool that answers that question.”
LACAHSA’s mandate will be to create new affordable homes, preserve L.A.’s existing lower-rent housing and prevent people from losing the housing they already have. LAist sat down with Richardson and LACAHSA’s interim CEO Ryan Johnson to talk about their plans for turning Measure A money into new affordable housing.
Another ingredient in L.A.’s alphabet soup?
LACAHSA is the new kid on the block, joining other agencies long tasked with addressing the region’s homelessness crisis. Funding for shelters and services is already coordinated by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). Various county and city agencies also play a role in regulating and creating new affordable housing.
“There's a bunch of letter acronym agencies across the county already,” Richardson said. “We didn't want to be one of those. We wanted to be lean and mean and focused on production.”
The difference with LACAHSA, Richardson said, will be its ability to fund new development and homelessness prevention programs — such as rental assistance and free attorneys in eviction court — county-wide, rather than through one-off efforts happening in some cities but not others.
“Things like that really help, and have proven to help keep people in their homes,” Richardson said. “Now there's dedicated funding every year, county-wide, where there's no gaps.”
Coming from private sector to “unclog” the system
Johnson, LACAHSA’s interim CEO, has worked in both for-profit and nonprofit housing development. He was recently the CEO for Fulham Square Capital, an L.A.-based firm that invests in housing catering to moderate-income workers in the Southeast and Southwest.
“That background in the private sector is going to help us bring all of those things together — lower cost per unit, faster financing,” Johnson said. “Voters are saying to us, help us unclog this system.”
Johnson said LACHASA will aim to do that through a number of strategies.
It will provide gap financing to developers who rely on multiple funding sources. It will work on extending affordability covenants and signing new deals to preserve low rents in properties that are naturally affordable. It will also explore welfare tax exemptions for certain developments, and down payment assistance to put homeownership within reach for more families.
“You'll end up with this kind of multi-faceted strategy that reduces homelessness over time,” Johnson said. “Success, to me, is folks feeling like rents aren't going up exponentially overnight, there are cranes in the sky, and there are multiple solutions and opportunities for people.”
LACAHSA Interim CEO Ryan Johnson stands above a housing construction site in Downtown Long Beach.
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David Wagner/LAist
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How much new housing will be built?
Johnson and Richardson could not specify how many new housing units LACAHSA will create. They said goals will be outlined in the months ahead, before the tax takes effect in April 2025.
“We are required to put forward a five-year funding plan that calls our shots,” Richardson said. “That is our number one priority.”
In the run-up to the election, The Angeleno Project — a civic group focused on equity issues — commissioned a study from outside consultants that concluded Measure A could help create 18,000 new affordable housing units over the next 10 years.
“I'd be surprised if this money could produce 12,000 units over 10 years,” he said.
Ward sees Measure A largely continuing policies that have increased costs. For example, Measure A will subject projects to construction labor agreements similar to those that led to fewer units under the city of L.A.’s Measure HHH from 2016, according to Ward’s research.
“Texas builds three [Low-Income Housing Tax Credit] units for every one unit built in California,” Ward said. “Anything the agency can do to break out of that path can really only be to the good. The way we do it now really strikes me as the way to build the least housing at the highest cost.”
What will accountability look like?
One of the key concerns voters raised about Measure A had to do with accountability for past spending. Measure H has pumped billions of dollars into homeless services, but the region’s homeless count rose 37% since voters approved that funding.
Johnson said LACAHSA will outline specific goals and be accountable for achieving them.
“We'll have a full strategic plan by June of next year,” he said. “That is going to be our North Star in making sure we're able to provide those solutions and hit those achievable targets.”
Measure A will also create a new Citizens Oversight Committee to monitor LACAHSA’s spending.
What barriers will stand in their way?
Most of LACAHSA’s board members are elected leaders from local governments across L.A. County. City council members and mayors in various parts of Southern California have been known to fight new housing construction in their backyards.
For example, Norwalk is being sued by the state of California for banning homeless shelters and housing. One LACAHSA board member hails from Beverly Hills, a city currently sparring with Gov. Gavin Newsom over a “builder’s remedy” project that includes low-income apartments.
“The LACAHSA board is made up of the diverse opinions across L.A. County,” Richardson said, including “small communities who may be concerned about the impacts that growth might have on their communities. But also you have communities that have really been leaders.”
Under state law, cities across Southern California have already been given goals for new housing growth, including units affordable to low-income households. Failing to adequately plan for all that new housing can have negative consequences for those cities. Johnson said those state mandates are the stick, and LACAHSA hopes to be the carrot.
“Part of our goal is bringing the smaller cities along with these larger jurisdictions,” Johnson said.
What about DC?
Measure A’s passage was overshadowed by a much bigger change in this election: the return of former president Donald Trump to the White House. Housing experts say his administration could slash support for new low-income housing across the country, including in L.A.
“I would be absolutely shocked if there was a more generous [Low-Income Housing Tax Credit] program coming down the pipeline,” said Ward with the RAND Center.
LACAHSA’s leaders said they would have preferred federal partners who aimed to expand affordable housing support, but they’re prepared to make the most of Measure A.
“We needed a dedicated long term source of revenue so we could chart our own destiny and not rely on who is in Washington,” Johnson said.
Past and ongoing audits of homelessness spending in California have shown that outcomes are not always tracked, and money in some cases appears to have been used fraudulently. LACAHSA leaders said they understand why some are skeptical about new efforts.
“What I would say to people who are on the skeptical side is: look at what this board is going to do over the next few months,” Johnson said. “We're going to shock you with what we're going to be able to accomplish.”
Gab Chabrán
covers what's happening in food and culture for LAist.
Published September 10, 2026 5:00 AM
A fruit vendor sells on Whittier Boulevard in East L.A.
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Andrew Lopez
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Boyle Heights Beat
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Topline:
A recent AirTalk segment highlights the decades-long debate over street vending in Los Angeles. Despite efforts by the City Council and statewide law, enforcement remains murky at best, even though it's a fixture of Los Angeles culture.
Why now? During a recent debate, Mayor Karen Bass made a series of comments that cast street vending in an unsavory light, prompting an almost immediate backlash from her opponent, Nithya Raman, who has devised her own nine-point plan to address street vending if elected.
Why is it important? Street vendors are as much a part of L.A.'s identity as its restaurants — but the system meant to support them is so broken that only a fraction operate with full legal standing. As this becomes a defining issue in the mayor's race, it's worth knowing the difference between political rhetoric and how the rules actually work on the ground.
Last month, street vending became a flashpoint during one of the recent debates for L.A. mayor when incumbent Karen Bass said, "I do not think that you should have a food vendor in front of a restaurant. Period," drawing a comparison to unhoused encampments.
The remarks set off an almost immediate backlash. Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman, who has her own 9-point plan to support street vendors, said Bass "took a shot" at the street vending community and reiterated her commitment to work toward regulations and legalizing their operations.
Bass's office later eased its stance, saying it had directed the LAPD to stop issuing criminal citations to street vendors — and to dismiss any that had been issued in error.
Street vending remains part of the Los Angeles landscape, and the backlash from the debate brought to light just how confusing its legality can be. To understand how we got here, it helps to start with the basics.
Is street vending legal?
Yes. Since SB 946 in 2018, state law has decriminalized it. That means cities and counties can't criminally cite vendors or ban them from specific zones. They can, however, still enforce health and safety rules — things like sidewalk clearance and ADA access.
So why does it feel unregulated?
On a recent segment forAirTalk, Memo Torres ofL.A. Taco pointed to a stark gap between L.A.'s vending population and its permitted vendors. According to an email from the California Restaurant Association reported byFOX 11, an estimated 50,000 street vendors operate across Los Angeles — yet only 53 hold permits specifically for food sales.
Why so few permits?
Vending requirements largely mirror restaurant-grade standards — large refrigeration units, multi-basin sinks — that don't fit the reality of most vendor setups: flat-top griddles, folding tables, pop-up tents.
That isn't to say there haven't been efforts by the city to address the permitting gap. In 2024, the City Council, with Raman's backing, voted to drop the annual permit fee from $541 to $27.51.
Raman's mayoral campaign has since proposed another potential fix: extending a state permit category — currently used by vendors at farmers markets who share equipment like a communal three-compartment sink — to street vendors, so operators wouldn't need their own restaurant-grade setup to qualify.
What about health and safety?
County health inspectors technically oversee street food vendors, but both industry and vendor advocates agree enforcement is inconsistent — leaving reliable data on violations hard to come by.
Are vendors and restaurants actually enemies?
A 2015 Economic Roundtable study found that businesses located near street vendors were more likely to see job growth than those without nearby vendors.
What’s next
Proposals like Raman's permitting reforms aim to close the gap — but for now, most of L.A.'s vendors remain outside the formal system.
Outside the Melbourne Cricket Ground ahead of the NFL game between the Rams and 49ers. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)
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Asanka Brendon Ratnayake
/
Associated Press
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Topline:
The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.
Why it matters: The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.
The backstory: The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment. The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.
What's next: The Rams and 49ers kick off at 5:35 p.m. Thursday night on Netflix.
The longest road trip in NFL history has brought the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams to Australia’s sports capital for a season opener in front of more than 100,000 football-hungry fans packed into the Southern Hemisphere’s largest stadium.
The NFC West rivals are playing Australia’s first NFL game, and the starkly differing ways in which they made this epic journey have attracted almost as much attention as the two star-studded rosters preparing to put on a show.
The 49ers have been Down Under for more than a week, adjusting their body clocks in the traditional manner and winning over thousands of Aussie fans who appreciate their commitment to the historic moment.
The Rams were only scheduled to arrive in Melbourne around dawn Thursday, roughly 28 hours before the Friday morning kickoff that’s necessary to play the game Thursday night in prime time in the U.S. That’s because head coach Sean McVay is convinced they can thwart jet lag and optimize their game readiness by staying home on California time.
Both teams agree this contrast in preparation is not a referendum on the best way to handle a pair of 16-hour flights with a football game in between — even if the rest of the world might see it that way after the final whistle.
Instead, this game is primarily a difficult early test for both the Super Bowl favorite Rams and the talent-laden 49ers, who also intend to be a title challenger. The coaching staffs and veteran players all know each other thoroughly after a decade of competition between Shanahan and McVay, who are both constantly looking for an edge.
“I don’t think there’s any right way to do it,” said defensive end Myles Garrett, who will make his Rams debut in Australia. “They have a plan, and I’m sure they consulted different teams and people to find out a way to combat jet lag and such long travel. We’ve done the same thing. I think we’re both riding our methodologies.”
Garrett will be joined by star cornerback Trent McDuffie and cornerback Jaylen Watson in their debuts with Los Angeles’ revamped defense.
“I’ve never been more excited to be wrong about something,” Shanahan said.
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Frank Stoltze
is a veteran reporter who covers local politics and examines how democracy is and, at times, is not working.
Published September 9, 2026 6:36 PM
The Jail complex in downtown Los Angeles
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Robert Garrova / LAist
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Topline:
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday that it has opened an investigation into the Men’s Central Jail in downtown Los Angeles, specifically looking into whether L.A. County has failed to provide environmentally safe, humane and habitable conditions for people held there.
The details: The jail has long been plagued by allegations of poor conditions. Monitors from the American Civil Liberties Union have documented problems including overcrowding, severe mold and mildew, and rodent infestations.
The context: The federal investigation is expected to focus on conditions within the facility and not the actions of the county sheriff’s deputies who staff it, according to the Justice Department. The new investigation is separate from a 2015 settlement between the county and federal government, which stemmed from allegations of inadequate mental health care provided at county jails.
What happens next: Investigators will determine whether the county has violated the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment, and 14th Amendment, which guarantees equal protection under the law.
Reaction: L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger welcomed the investigation, and said she had said for year that the jail was “antiquated, inhumane, and unfit for our workforce and those incarcerated there.”
Jason Wells
manages the daily news product that you hear and read every day.
Published September 9, 2026 5:13 PM
Smoke rises from a brush fire near the Getty Center on Sept. 9, 2026.
(
CBS LA
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Topline:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
What we know so far: As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above.
Read on ... for more on evacuations and weather conditions.
This story is no longer being actively updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:
Firefighters appeared to make quick progress against a brush fire the broke out Wednesday near the Getty Center.
As of 5 p.m., evacuation warnings had been issued for zones LFD-0895 and LF-0967, although the LAFD said no structures were immediately threatened as the water-dropping helicopters attacked the fire from above. Forward progress of the fire was reported stopped shortly after 6 p.m. at a little over 20 acres.
