LA County Measure A asks voters to approve sales tax to fund homeless programs

Voters in Los Angeles County will consider a new sales tax with significant ramifications for resources dedicated to the largest homeless population in California.

If approved, Measure A would provide the county with about $1 billion annually by repealing an existing quarter-cent sales tax and replacing it with a half-cent sales tax. Money raised would go toward combating the homeless crisis by providing shelters, housing and other services.

If it fails, the tax that currently funds many county homeless services would expire in 2027.

Here's what to know about LA County Measure A.

What to know about LA County Measure A

First, how we got here.

In 2017, Los Angeles County voters passed a quarter-cent sales tax called Measure H with 69 percent of voters supporting the measure. Money from the tax was poured into programs designed to address the regions homeless crisis, such as getting people out of homeless encampments and into shelters. Funds from Measure H have helped move more than 42,000 people in permanent housing and 80,500 into temporary housing, according to the county’s Chief Executive Office.

Measure A would repeal and replace the Measure H-approved tax with a larger one that would be used to fund a wider range of resources, like building new affordable housing.

Supporters say the homeless crisis would get worse if Measure H expires without a replacement. They say that if all Measure H services lost funding, unsheltered homelessness could increase by 28 percent, based on point-in-time 2024 homeless count data provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

About one-third of Measure A funds would go to the new Los Angeles County Affordable House Solution Agency for new homes and services to help people avoid eviction and foreclosure. Most of the remaining money would go to homeless services.

Two new oversight bodies would set goals for the programs.

Measure A supporters and opponents

Supporters of the measure include local nonprofits like the Los Angeles-area branches of United Way and Habitat for Humanity, several labor unions, California Community Foundation, Western States Carpenters, Liberty Hill Foundation and other groups.

Critics say money has already been spent on the homeless crisis with few results. The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, which wrote the official statement in opposition to Measure A, said a tax increase isn't the best way out of the homeless crisis in Los Angeles County. Opponents argue Los Angeles hasn't seen enough of a return on the sales tax paid under Measure H after seven years, so why try again with a larger tax?

"Measure A raises the sales tax by more than $1 billion per year, permanently, to pay for the same failed homelessness programs that have wasted over $3 billion since 2017," the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Associated said in a statement. "Prices are already too high, and so is the sales tax, currently above 10% in many places. Vote No on Measure A."

Measure A qualified for the ballot by citizen initiative, meaning it is exempt from the two-thirds majority required of government-initiated taxes. A simple majority is required for the measure to pass.