{"id":756549,"date":"2026-04-27T12:05:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:05:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/756549\/"},"modified":"2026-04-27T12:05:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T12:05:19","slug":"measure-a-explained","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/756549\/","title":{"rendered":"Measure A explained"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los Angeles County is home to the largest homeless population in the U.S. \u2014 more than 72,000 people, according to official estimates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In 2024, county voters approved<\/a> Measure A, a half-percent sales tax increase aimed at raising $1 billion a year for homeless services and affordable housing.<\/p>\n

Its backers promised voters more transparency, accountability and results.<\/p>\n

As new revenue flows in, questions about how L.A. County spends homelessness dollars aren\u2019t going away.<\/p>\n

How Measure A came to be\u00a0<\/p>\n

Homeless service providers and advocates wrote<\/a> and campaigned for Measure A in 2024. Their goal was for it to replace a smaller, temporary county sales tax for homeless services known as Measure H, which was set to expire in 2027. <\/p>\n

That quarter-percent sales tax, approved by voters in 2017, delivered about $500 million a year. <\/p>\n

That new funding helped move more people into shelter beds, and the number of unhoused people in shelters in L.A. County increased from about 15,000 in 2017<\/a> to about 23,000 in 2024<\/a>, according to official estimates. <\/p>\n

But the county’s overall unhoused population \u2014 which includes people staying in shelters as well as those living on the streets \u2014- grew by 37%, from about 55,000 in 2017 to more than 75,000 in 2024. <\/p>\n

Measure A\u2019s solution was to double the special sales tax for homelessness, make it permanent and use the extra revenue to help build more affordable housing in addition to homeless services. <\/p>\n

A majority of county voters agreed. The county enacted the \u201cAffordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions, and Prevention Now Transactions and Use Tax Ordinance<\/a>\u201d \u2014 and then started collecting<\/a> the Measure A tax in April 2025.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Elise Buik, President and CEO of United Way of Greater Los Angeles presents an award to Peter Laugharn, President and CEO of Conrad N. Hilton Foundation at the United Way “Annual HomeWalk To End Homelessness” in 2017. Both organizations were major backers of Measure A, along with the California Community Foundation and others. <\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Greg Doherty<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Getty Images<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Measure A\u2019s promises <\/p>\n

Voters approved Measure A amid increasing concerns about the regional agency long tasked with managing public homelessness dollars by the county and city of L.A.<\/p>\n

A county audit<\/a> in late 2024 found that the Los Angeles Regional Homelessness Authority, or LAHSA, had regularly paid service providers late and failed to properly monitor contracts. A separate court-ordered report found<\/a> L.A. city officials had made it impossible to accurately track homelessness spending, largely by outsourcing to LAHSA. <\/p>\n

Measure A proposed a new approach to the region\u2019s homeless services system, which many have described as \u201cdysfunctional.\u201d Written into the ordinance were clearer systemwide goals, increased accountability over spending and consequences for programs that fail to perform. <\/p>\n

Unlike Measure H, which focused on getting people off the street, Measure A was written to also focus on preventing people from falling into homelessness. It directs more than 35% of its roughly $1 billion in yearly revenue to a new county affordable housing agency. Supporters estimated it could produce 18,000 new affordable units in L.A. County over 10 years.<\/p>\n

It directs 60% or revenues towards homeless services \u2014 and dedicates a portion of that funding to be split directly among L.A. County\u2019s 88 cities. <\/p>\n

Measure A delegated oversight responsibilities for the spending to the county Board of Supervisors and two governance bodies the board had established in 2023 to coordinate regional planning on homelessness. <\/p>\n

The first is an advisory group called the Leadership Table for Regional Homelessness Alignment. It includes nonprofit service providers and experts who meet regularly and inform policy decisions.<\/p>\n

That group advises a more powerful one called the Executive Committee for Regional Homelessness Alignment<\/a>, which sets Measure A\u2019s goals and makes plans and funding recommendations. <\/p>\n

Its nine members include two county supervisors (currently Kathryn Barger and Lindsey Horvath), the L.A. mayor (currently Karen Bass), an L.A. City Council member (currently Nithya Raman), a representative from Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s administration and four officials from cities across the county.<\/p>\n

The committee\u2019s recommendations go to the county Board of Supervisors, which has the final say. <\/p>\n

Last March, the supervisors formally adopted five-year Measure A goals<\/a> with 2030 deadlines. They include: reducing unsheltered homelessness in the county by 30%, moving twice as many people annually into permanent housing and boosting affordable housing production by about 50%. <\/p>\n

Measure A\u2019s effects <\/p>\n

One of the early after effects of passing Measure A has been a reorganization of who controls the growing pot of county homelessness dollars. <\/p>\n

In April 2025, the Board of Supervisors voted to divert more than $300 million from LAHSA and create a new county department, the Department of Homeless Services and Housing, to manage homelessness funding directly.<\/p>\n

Supporters of the move said it was necessary because Measure A voters were demanding accountability that LAHSA wasn\u2019t delivering. The new county department formally launched in January.<\/p>\n

The full transition of LAHSA programs to the county is planned in July. The Board of Supervisors recently directed the new department to create strict oversight procedures for all homeless service contracts.<\/p>\n

Last March, L.A. County approved its first annual budget that included projected allocations from Measure A, totaling about $1 billion. The county had twice as much funding at its disposal but still cut tens of millions of dollars<\/a> in programs and services for unhoused people, citing a strategic shift. <\/p>\n

Now, the county is finalizing the budget for the next fiscal year, which starts July 1. It again includes $1 billion for homeless services and affordable housing because of Measure A, but the homelessness spending plan includes nearly $200 million<\/a> in program reductions.<\/p>\n

County officials said those reductions were necessary to cover rising shelter costs and the loss of pandemic-era state and federal funding.<\/p>\n

Measure A has allocated about $100 million annually, or roughly 9% of all Measure A revenues, directly to the 88 cities within L.A. County to address homelessness in what\u2019s known as the Local Solutions Fund. The county publishes a regional plan<\/a> showing how that money is used. <\/p>\n

The funding is awarded based primarily on a city\u2019s recent unhoused population numbers, using estimates from the official annual homeless count. <\/p>\n

Some city leaders complain<\/a> that their residents are paying way more into the Measure A tax than they are getting out of it. <\/p>\n

Torrance mayor George Chen says his city will generate about $26 million annually for the county through the Measure A sales tax, and it will receive about $559,000 in local funding through the measure.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath supported the Measure A sales tax, and also championed the effort to break from LAHSA and form a new county homelessness department. <\/p>\n

Affordable housing focus\u00a0<\/p>\n

The major structural difference between Measure A and its predecessor is that it earmarks roughly 36% of its proceeds \u2014 about $363 million a year \u2014 for affordable housing development. Those funds flow through a new independent regional agency called the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, or LACAHSA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The agency\u2019s mandate is to create new affordable homes, preserve lower-rent housing and prevent displacement. It is still in its early stages.<\/p>\n

As of March, the agency had received $275 million from Measure A and distributed $25 million to recipients, according to its Measure A Funds Tracker<\/a>. Most of what had been awarded was emergency rental assistance.<\/p>\n

On April 15, the agency\u2019s board conditionally approved its first major round of housing production funding, approximately $102 million for 10 projects that will add 566 units of affordable housing, according to a recent report<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Projects are required to break ground within one year of receiving awards. A second round of awards is scheduled for the board’s May 13 meeting.<\/p>\n

Demand for funding far outpaced what was available: LACAHSA received 242 applications for 127 projects totaling $1.56 billion and representing 11,484 units.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next? <\/p>\n

The goals Measure A set are ambitious, and the deadline is 2030. A county dashboard<\/a> tracking progress shows the region gaining ground reducing unsheltered homelessness while falling behind on other targets. <\/p>\n

The county hasn\u2019t made any progress decreasing the number of people falling into homelessness or decreasing homelessness among people with mental health or substance use disorders. The dashboard does not yet include affordable housing production metrics.<\/p>\n

The transition from the regional Homeless Services Authority to the new county Department of Homeless Services and Housing is still underway, with a full handoff of staff and programs targeted for July 2026.<\/p>\n

LAHSA recently announced it will lay off 284 employees<\/a> at the end of June.<\/p>\n

Federal cuts and changes to funding from Medicaid and the U.S. Housing and Urban Development \u2014 flagged as \u201cthreats to recent progress\u201d in the county’s recent budget documents<\/a> \u2014 loom over the entire system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Los Angeles County is home to the largest homeless population in the U.S. \u2014 more than 72,000 people,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":756550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-756549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116476584113400693","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=756549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/756549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/756550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=756549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=756549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=756549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}