Los Angeles Councilmembers Introduce ‘Social Housing’ Motion

City, housing organizations are paving way for new model of housing, including low-income homeownership

 

Los Angeles, CA, May 24, 2024 – Los Angeles City Councilmembers Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez and Marqueece Harris-Dawson introduced a motion today to build the City of LA’s capacity to establish a large scale social housing program in Los Angeles. The motion instructs the LA Housing Department to do two things: 1) identify strategic financing tools that would support the City in implementing permanent affordability and resident governance in social housing and 2) identify solutions for low income households to take part in social housing ownership in Los Angeles. A copy of the motion is available here.

 

The motion was catalyzed by housing organizations that wrote and passed Measure ULA and are now focused on bringing social housing to Los Angeles with Measure ULA funds. Measure ULA – which voters passed in November 2022 – brought in $248 million in its first full year, despite a downturn in the market and a rush to sell before the tax came into effect. Several ULA programs – Alternative Models for Permanent Affordability, Acquisition and Rehabilitation, and Capacity Building – would together make up a new social housing program.

 

Chair of Housing and Homelessness Committee Councilmember Nithya Raman, stated, “Two years ago, almost 60% of voters in the City of Los Angeles supported Measure ULA, a community led initiative to create funding for housing and homelessness prevention in Los Angeles, a city in a desperate moment of crisis. Using a social housing framework in crafting Measure ULA programs has the potential to transform how Angelenos access housing — opening up possibilities for new housing that is both affordable and community-controlled, both as tenants and as new homeowners.”

 

“I’m proud to join ACT-LA, advocates, and my colleagues on the City Council as we work together to establish a true social housing program in Los Angeles,” said Councilmember Hernandez. “Over half of renters in the City of Los Angeles are struggling with rent, and a quarter are in dire straits. With nearly 46,000 individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night, we have an obligation to invest in the tools that we know will end the eviction to homelessness pipeline. This motion is a testament to our commitment to streamlining access to deeply affordable housing where tenants have the right to participate in their building’s governance.”

 

Council President Pro Tempore Marqueece Harris-Dawson stated, “As a City with tens of thousands of unhoused individuals and increasingly unaffordable housing, it is important that we find real solutions to ensure folks have a place to live. Los Angeles needs to be innovative in our housing policies. I am grateful for the advocates and my colleagues as we explore ways to permanently house our most vulnerable neighbors.”

 

Alfonso Directo Jr., Advocacy Director of ACT-LA, a coalition leading the social housing campaign said, “Today’s actions represent an important opportunity for the city to build the capacity needed to bring permanently affordable and resident-led social housing to fruition on a large scale in LA.”

 

Last April, the City Council passed a resolution to urgently pursue social housing for the City of Los Angeles.