Why this is important
The percentage of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County rose to the single digits, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s latest homeless count.
However, for Latinos, that number increased by 26%, now making up about 44.5% of the unhoused population.
The city of Los Angeles has become one of the most inhospitable in the country. Inflation and the housing crisis have left thousands of Angelenos in economic crisis or homeless.
It is estimated that around 42,000 people live on the streets, a situation that worsens every day. Also, recent USC figures suggest that just over 50 percent of city residents pay more than half of their income on rent.
This situation is unsustainable.
But there are different approaches to this problem.
The United to House L.A. (ULA) initiative on the Nov. 8 ballot would give the city a way to improve this situation by creating a robust and steady stream of funding to create and preserve affordable housing through a tax on high-dollar real estate transfers. This new revenue is essential if Los Angeles ever hopes to turn the homelessness crisis around. According to the city’s current Housing Element — a plan for housing growth through 2029 — the city needs 455,000 new units of housing, including 185,000 for lower-income residents.
Others oppose this measure.
In an editorial in the Daily News they state that “If Angelenos are serious about addressing housing affordability and homelessness, they need to push city leaders to make it easier to build more housing and to demonstrate they can actually pull off making cost-effective housing a reality.” .
“Measure ULA risks hitting Angelenos with higher costs in order to finance bloated bureaucracies. Measure ULA has all the hallmarks of a foolish special interest money grab, pure and simple.”
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