The New ULA Bill in a Nutshell

The soon-to-be-implemented ULA bill doesn’t seem very equitable.

A bill was recently passed in Los Angeles called ULA or “United Los Angeles.” It's a very large additional transfer tax to raise more money for helping the homeless. On the surface, that sounds like a fantastic thing, but this initiative was very poorly planned.

In 2016, Measure HHH was passed, which raised $1.2 billion to build 10,000 new units to help the homeless. In the six years since then, they've only built about 1,000 of the units. The issue is not the money; it's the lack of efficiency in how the city is using the funds.

"I predict there will be many lawsuits to fight or delay this."

With the new ULA initiative, Pacific Palisades and Brentwood make up approximately 43% of all the residential properties that are affected. Here’s how it works: homes and commercial properties between $5 million and $10 million will be taxed an additional 4% of the total sales price after April 1, 2023. Any properties that sell over $10 million will be taxed at 5.5%. 

That's almost a 1,000% increase on what the standard transfer tax currently is. It's really going to change our marketplace. I know that many sellers are deciding not to sell right now, and many developers are looking to develop outside of Los Angeles.

I predict there will be many lawsuits to fight or delay this. They're going after such a small percentage of people. 97% of the population don't live in $5 million homes and can vote to have a very small percentage of the population take on this burden. That doesn't seem very equitable.

If you have any questions about the ULA bill, don’t hesitate to reach out to me by phone or email. I’d love to answer any of your questions.