LA voters approved billions for housing and homelessness. Leaders of a new agency told us their spending plans

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.

Jason Ward, co-director of the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness, believes that outlook is optimistic.

“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.”