LOS ANGELES CA - OCTOBER 18: Helicopter photograph of the Holmby Hills home of Aaron Spelling coming towards the end of its construction Spelling bought the 6-acre (2.4 ha) property of Bing Crosby's former Los Angeles house. He demolished the property and built a 123-room home on the lot in 1991. Known as The Manor, it has 56,500 square feet (5,250 m2) of floor space and was the largest single-family home in Los Angeles.Spelling's widow Candy listed the home for sale in 2008 for $150 million; heiress Petra Ecclestone ultimately purchased the property for $85 million in 2011, photographed from a helicopter October 18, 1990 ( Photo by Paul Harris/Getty Images )
Los Angeles, California – The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a sweeping $425 million spending plan for the new fiscal year, directing Measure ULA funds toward a slate of affordable housing and homelessness prevention programs. The vote marks the city’s largest allocation of revenue yet from the controversial tax on high-end real estate sales.
Passed by voters in 2022, Measure ULA — dubbed the “mansion tax” — applies to property transactions exceeding $5 million. While the measure has raised more than $700 million to date, it has also become a lightning rod for debate. Critics in the real estate industry argue the tax has cooled property sales, reduced local construction, and dampened overall property tax revenue. But supporters say the policy is filling a widening gap in housing funding as state and county contributions shrink.
The 2025 allocation is larger than all previous years combined. Of the $425 million approved, more than $288 million will go toward the production and preservation of affordable housing — a category that includes everything from subsidized new builds to protections for existing rent-restricted units. An additional $100 million is earmarked for homelessness prevention, including eviction defense services and direct income support for tenants at risk of losing their homes.
Housing advocates hailed the move as a major step toward stabilizing vulnerable communities amid a worsening affordability crisis.
“Don’t believe the hate from big-money real estate or their lies appearing all over the media,” said Joe Donlin, director of United to House LA, the coalition that championed Measure ULA. “Measure ULA is doing the steady work to create stable homes and good jobs for Angelenos.”
Since its passage, Measure ULA has collected $702 million, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department. But the initiative’s future is far from guaranteed. It faces ongoing legal challenges from real estate interests and criticism from developers who warn it may be having unintended consequences — namely, slowing the very housing production it was meant to support.
Still, Tuesday’s vote reflects a growing political consensus at City Hall: despite headwinds, Measure ULA is now central to the city’s housing strategy. In a moment of national retrenchment on social spending, Los Angeles is betting big that local, voter-backed funding can move the needle on one of its most urgent and intractable challenges.
