Homeless housing bond measure makes it onto November ballot

A city bond measure will appear on the November ballot with the goal of raising $1.2 billion for homeless housing development, after the Los Angeles County supervisors voted to approve it Tuesday.

If two-thirds of voters choose to support the measure, property taxes would be marginally raised. A home valued at L.A.’s median of $327,900, for instance, would see an estimated $44.31 added to its property taxes.

When city and county officials budgeted more than $200 million earlier this year toward housing and other services to address homelessness, they were unsure how such efforts could be funded.

The bond measure was endorsed by city officials as well, including Mayor Eric Garcetti, the L.A. Times reported.

“I guarantee that the work that you’re doing, we will be there in turn to support what you do, whether it’s on the ballot, whether it’s here in these august chambers,” he said to the county supervisors.

Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who proposed the county measure, said that the city bond proceeds would be used for housing construction only. Further services could be bankrolled by a possible county sales tax measure on the March ballot. [LAT] — Cathaleen Chen