LA’s mansion tax backlash is running straight into a local housing clampdown — and yeah, that’s exactly the squeeze California keeps running into when pro-housing promises hit real policy fights.
This is California Housing Today. Today, we’re looking at the push to rethink Measure ULA, a Bay Area city tightening its development rules, and what all of that means if the goal is still building more homes.
Let’s get into it.
Okay, first up: Los Angeles.
From City News Service:
A coalition of housing advocates, nonprofit and business leaders has called for reforms to Los Angeles' "mansion tax" Measure ULA, which they believe is creating unintended barriers and leading to a decline in multifamily homes being built annually, property transactions above $5 million, and a 12% increase in rent since 2022.
That is a pretty brutal policy bind: a tax meant to fund housing is now being blamed for making housing harder to build. So if City Hall wants ULA to survive, the lane is probably: fix it, but don’t gut it.
Next, from Mike Langberg at San José Spotlight:
Campbell residents have won a partial victory in a state housing law that could allow developers to replace single-family homes with multifamily developments. The law prevents cities from preventing developers from developing up to 10 homes on vacant residential lots, but does not specify when the lot must be empty. The Campbell City Council voted to close this loophole by requiring developers to build a new single family home when they want to demolish an existing one.
This is the state-local housing fight in miniature. Sacramento says, build more starter homes. Neighbors say, sure — just don’t do it by knocking down the block. Campbell found a narrow lever here, but the already-approved projects are still where the fight gets real.
If one of today’s stories made you want the details, we’ve got links in the show notes — reporting, sources, all of it.
That’s California Housing Today for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.