ULA Updates

NEWSLETTER: Shifting into high gear

October 23, 2025

ULA reaches full strength with new budget

Since it went into effect on April 1, 2023, Measure ULA has made a remarkable impact. 35,370 renters have received eviction defense, legal assistance, or tenant navigation. 140,000 renters have received ULA-funded tenant outreach and education. 10,000 renters have received direct financial assistance from ULA through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and another 500 households through the ULA Income Support Program. Its first round of funding accelerated thousands of union construction jobs and funded the construction of 795 affordable homes.

But as impressive as those figures are, ULA is only now beginning to reach full strength. The Los Angeles City Council recently approved a $424.8 million budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year, marking the first time that 11 of ULA’s programs will be funded after a two year “true-up” period.

To get a sense of scale, the ULA budget for the 2023-24 and 2024-25 fiscal years was $317.9 million combined. That means the ULA is poised to spend one-third more in this fiscal year to help house Angelenos than it has spent in its entire time to date.

ULA is poised to spend more money in the coming fiscal year than it has spent in its entire time to date.

That includes:

$87.9 million for multifamily affordable housing
$87.9 million for alternative housing models (including both new construction and preservation)
$42.7 million for income support for rent-burdened seniors and people with disabilities
$39.1 million for eviction defense and prevention.

The LA Housing Department has also announced that it will use a portion of the funding to hire 108 new public positions to implement ULA programs. At a time when LA City is struggling with funding cuts and staffing shortfalls across many departments, ULA is funding the public capacity required to deliver help to the people who need it.

Homeless Count Shows Improvement

This new budget also comes at a time when Angelenos received some welcome news about our homelessness crisis. The Point In Time census from the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count revealed that street homelessness in LA City fell for the second straight year, the first time that has happened since the Homeless Count began in 2005.

In total, homelessness has declined 17.5% in the city of LA since 2022. A major part of that progress has been preventing Anglenos from falling into homelessness in the first place through precisely the types of programs that ULA has been funding — direct financial assistance, combating illegal evictions, building and preserving affordable housing, and more.

At a time when Donald Trump and DOGE are slashing federal support for housing and state and local budgets are tightening, ULA dollars are giving LA City’s fight against homelessness a path to continued progress.

Have you looked at our Instagram lately? Check it out: https://www.instagram.com/unitedtohousela/

“I am example of the impact these ballot measures can make!”

James Morgan, a 54-year-old journeyman construction worker and a member of Local 300 of the Laborers Union, knows how much difference a home can make. Morgan was unhoused for a time after he completed his service in the U.S. Army, and he subsequently served a short term in prison — struggles that many veterans face.

After leaving prison, he connected with the Anti-Recidivism Coalition, which partners with the building trades unions’ apprenticeship program. Morgan completed his apprenticeship and has found a steady career in construction work.

But his housing difficulties left an impression on Morgan, and when the campaign to pass Measure ULA got under way in 2022, Morgan took a leadership role as one of the lead volunteers on the ground. To him, Measure ULA is a jobs program as well as a housing program. It’s the same reason he also supported County Measure A in 2024, a small sales tax which is expected to raise more than $1 billion per year for housing and homelessness programs across LA County.

“I am an example of the impact these ballot measures can make,” he said. “My wife and I are saving for our first home. We want all Angelenos to be able to call some place their home.”

ULA Resources

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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