A voter-approved law often called the “mansion tax” so far has raised over $1 billion to address the city’s housing and homelessness crisis, officials announced Thursday.
Measure United to House Los Angeles took effect in April 2023 and levied a 4% tax initially on property sales above $5 million, then adjusted to $5.3 million, and a 5.5% tax on sales totaling more than $10 million.
Advocates for fair housing and people experiencing homelessness have welcomed the voter initiative, while landowners and taxpayer advocates have criticized it as an overreach in taxation.
“At a time when so many Angelenos are struggling with rising rents and economic hardship, Measure ULA is proving that local action can make a real difference, building homes, keeping families housed and creating good, stable jobs,” Joe Donlin, director of the United to House LA coalition said in a statement.
“A billion dollars raised means a billion dollars working for the people of Los Angeles. This is the people’s billion,” he added.
Through December 2025, the measure has raised $1,032,880,148.93, according to its online tracker.
Revenue from Measure ULA funds eight programs that assist and educate renters, provide legal assistance for eviction defense, support homeownership initiatives, and help finance the construction of new affordable housing.
Last summer, the city approved a $425 million spending plan for Measure ULA funds. The City Council previously OK’d $150 million in ULA spending, a much smaller amount, because of concerns stemming from critics’ legal challenges.
According to Measure ULA opponents, the tax has discouraged commercial development and property sales and has led to limited affordable housing.
“Cleverly mischaracterized as a ‘mansion tax,’ (Measure ULA’s) tax is imposed on the sale of all properties over the $5 million threshold including apartments, commercial and industrial properties,” Jon Coupal, president of the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, wrote Monday in his weekly column. “Proceeds from the tax are ostensibly dedicated to homelessness programs which, coincidentally, happen to be the very programs provided by groups that put Measure ULA on the ballot in the first place.”
In December, the California Courts of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling to uphold Measure ULA, dismissing a lawsuit by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. The California-based nonprofit advocates for Propositions 13 and 218, which limit property taxes and require voter approval for local taxes.
The association has argued that Measure ULA violates both the state’s constitution and the Los Angeles City Charter.
“The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association challenged the ULA tax as violating the plain language of Prop. 13 as well as the city’s own charter, which limited the scope of the initiative power to those matters that the city itself could adopt,” Coupal wrote. “Because the city itself couldn’t impose a special transfer tax without a two-thirds vote, HJTA logically argued that the ULA simple-majority, special transfer tax was beyond the power of the local electorate.”
A three-judge panel from the state Court of Appeal for the Second District found that the California Constitution gives voters the power to pass laws levying property transfer taxes and sustained Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Barbara Scheper’s decision to dismiss the association’s lawsuit.
“The appellate court ruling upholding the ULA tax may have opened the door for all cities and counties to impose any kind of transfer taxes as long as the tax is proposed by a ‘citizens’ initiative,'” according to Coupal, who added he ruling will incentivize governments to impose parcel taxes above Prop. 13’s 1% rate cap.
“Parcel taxes have exploded throughout California, even when subject to the two-thirds vote requirement,” Coupal wrote. “The association is working to qualify an initiative constitutional amendment for the November 2026 ballot that will repeal Measure ULA and other real estate transfer taxes higher than 0.11% by closing court-created loopholes in Proposition 13.”
The petition for the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 is available at SaveProp13.com.
The ULA coalition’s announcement included statements from people experienced positive outcomes resulting from measure-generated revenue.
“I lived for six years without housing and began to lose hope—it’s exhausting to have to live that way,” said Phoebe Valencia, a tenant in the ULA-funded Santa Monica-Vermont apartments built by the Little Tokyo Service Center. “I would say the most special thing about this place is having the sense of security that I did not have before.”
Tania Dolinger, a construction worker at the enlightenment plaza affordable housing complex, said, “A project labor agreement lets union workers come here and build affordable housing under Measure ULA.
“I’ve been an electrician with the union for over 30 years, but before that when I was in my early 20’s, my son and I went through some rough times. Thanks to Measure ULA, I get to build affordable housing for the people like me who need a healthy, affordable place to live,” Dolinger said.
“If it wasn’t for Measure ULA funding Stay Housed LA, I would have been driven out of my apartment by my landlord who knocked on my door in the middle of the night and tried to evict me with no time to respond,” said Maria Briones, a member of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment. “I could respond to her harassment, and an attorney I found through the program helped me get relocation funds when the apartment was declared unlivable.”
The city’s website has Measure ULA dashboard trackers, and a petition for the Local Taxpayer Protection Act to Save Proposition 13 is available at SaveProp13.com.
