LOS ANGELES ordinance initiative - HOUSING
A SAFEr & cleaner la initiative

Property Sales Tax
by LA City Councilman Joe Buscaino
The City must establish a housing plan for the City's homeless population within three years to reach functional zero homelessness. The proposed measure is currently in the signature collection phase.
The ordinance states:
  • The Mayor would be granted sole authority to declare a local homelessness emergency, under which the City must offer housing to unsheltered individuals and may bypass zoning restrictions, environmental review, and other requirements.
  • Amends existing city law concerning where a person could lawfully dwell, prohibiting public dwelling citywide by any individual who is offered and does not accept adequate shelter.
  • The ordinance would maintain some existing city prohibitions (blocking egress, and dwelling near designated underpasses and homeless facilities), and eliminate others (dwelling near designated schools or parks, unless an offer of shelter is provided).
  • The expansion of restrictions regarding public storage of personal property be subject to misdemeanor prosecution.
  • The proposed initiative aims to achieve functional zero homelessness within three years without increasing taxes on Los Angeles residents and businesses. If not successful, all elected City Official's (excluding City Controller) salaries will be reduced or forfeited.
Status
  • tbd
Position
  • Recommended Position: tbd 
  • Does not appear to address the root causes, including:
  • Soft costs and related fees charged or caused by the government amount come to upwards of $80k to $150k a unit, thereby translating to $800 to $1000 additional rent before any construction has begun.
  • The permitting process is incredibly slow and inefficient with processes which could be facilitated faster and unilaterally.
  • Provide a cost benefit analysis. High fees are one of the major obstacles on developing. Significantly lower fees and expedited processing times, will allow many more market rate developers to develop much more affordable, yet unsubsidized housing.
  • CEQA was originally designed to protect communities from developments built out of scope based on approved community plans. CEQA has become consistently exploited where developers are challenged even with by-right or very close to by-right projects. The unions and others are exploiting developers, including mom and pops, who hire and train from the community, without the need for those agreements, to suffer the consequences with lawsuits and the need for high priced land use attorneys. CEQA has forced many small developers, including mom and pops to no longer be able to develop and provide those community jobs.
  • Many homeless individuals are clustered in the encampments because there are known drug dealers assuring regular drug sales. Consequently, this is affecting a homeless individual’s willingness and ability to go for treatment, thereby also impacting sustainable housing. We do nothing to address the dealers who are not homeless, with many, if not most, live in rental properties. We can cause the behavioral change, by addressing where the dealers are coming from, as they have already violated a lease on numerous accounts, including weapons possession of illegal narcotics. Many would have a mere behavioral change if the potential of them being evicted was pursued, where they live. Rental owners and the community have the ability assist with the needed changes, and law enforcement support with the evictions can guarantee them. Address where they live and not at the homeless encampments where the dealing occur. Many of those addicted to narcotics sale, if narcotics were no longer available, would be far more significantly and rapidly be willing to go into treatment and permanent housing. This will stop and drastically reduce drug sales in homeless encampments, and in turn, rapidly and efficiently will increase homeless individuals’ willingness from entering assistant programs, thereby sustainable housing. 
View the campaign page: Click Here  - Read the measure: Click Here