May 6, 2026
A ULA win in East Hollywood
On Thursday, the ULA-funded project at Santa Monica & Vermont celebrated its grand opening.
Though open for more than a year, the planned celebration last June was delayed by immigration raids affecting communities across LA. Developed by Little Tokyo Service Center, the property features 185 income-restricted affordable apartments and 20,000 square feet of community-serving retail space. Half of the units are reserved as permanent supportive housing for people who have experienced homelessness. In addition to providing housing desperately needed by Angelenos, the ULA-funded site also created construction jobs for 1569 workers, including 610 local workers, and 193 who identified as transitional/disadvantaged.
Expect more projects like this in the pipeline. Earlier this week, the LA City Council passed $360 million Homes for Los Angeles NOFA after it was approved by the Ad Hoc Committee on ULA last month. This marks the single largest allocation of Measure ULA funds to-date and the single largest NOFA in the City’s history.
It’s important that we keep moving at this scale, because the scale of the problem is daunting. In LA County, there is a deficit of 500,000 affordable housing units.
We are seeing in real-time that ULA is the solution.
With ULA firing on all cylinders in a severe housing crisis, why on earth are critics proposing to slash its revenue?
ULA critics miss the mark
Last month, the “Mend It, Don’t End It” coalition spoke to the LA City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on Measure ULA. The group that wants to reduce funding for affordable housing and eviction prevention in LA was once again unable to make a convincing case for exactly why they want that to happen.
While proponents of Mend It, Don’t End It argued that exemptions and carveouts to ULA could stimulate the Los Angeles real estate market, a recent report from BAE found that such loopholes wouldn’t help most projects pencil out.
After the release of the BAE report on ULA, Ted Chandler, a senior advisor to the AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust, said, “After a period when transactions slowed, sellers adjusted and, as reported widely, now they sell. It’s like they’re passing through the stages of grief from denial and anger through bargaining and depression to—finally—acceptance.”
Those in favor of cuts also contend that a preemptive compromise would help stop the Jarvis ballot initiative aimed at hobbling ULA. We know there is no stopping the California Business Round Table, backed by conservatives like Peter Thiel, from backing such a measure (they have already said as much). And we also know that together, we can beat any right-wing challenge that comes our way. (The early polling agrees with us.)
Thankfully, our coalition was out in full-force to correct the record and support Measure ULA.
Big problems deserve big solutions
Facing a housing crisis of this magnitude, diminishing the tools we have to fight this crisis isn’t just short-sighted, it dooms us to failure. If we are going to solve this crisis, we can’t kneecap our solutions. Too much is at stake.
Jamaal Rose, a ULA beneficiary, was just one of a number of supporters who gave public comment at the Ad Hoc Committee meeting demonstrating the kind of difference these funds make in peoples’ lives:
“The people from ULA and Stay Housed LA came to our defense, looked at our paperwork and they supported us in court. Without the help of ULA and Stay Housed LA, I wouldn’t have had the legal support I needed in court. I would at this point in time be homeless with my wife, not prepared to have anywhere else to stay.”
When the stakes are this high, the focus shouldn’t be tweaks and cuts. The focus should be on helping people afford to live in Los Angeles. The focus should be on supporting ULA.
Get the latest news on ULA and ULA-related actions
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ULA Resources
- LA Housing Department’s ULA Dashboards
- ULA Citizens Oversight Committee (COC)
- United to House LA Coalition
This newsletter is produced by the United to House LA (UHLA) Coalition that includes over 240 local nonprofit social service providers, community and tenant organizations, labor unions, affordable housing developers, faith-based organizations, and other groups that came together to craft Measure ULA and who have stayed together to make sure that its implementation is carried out effectively and efficiently by the City government.
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