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A measure on the November ballot would raise money for affordable housing — and require 80% of that to be earmarked for projects using union labor.Supporters of a November ballot measure that would increase sales tax by a quarter of 1% say it could provide more than $1 billion a year for efforts to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles County — including hundreds of millions for affordable housing.
The measure, known as Affordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Now, would require that 80% of funding for affordable housing be earmarked for projects that use union labor. Supporters say labor requirements provide contractors with skilled labor and ensure that workers are paid fairly. Critics argue the requirement can increase construction costs by tens of thousands per housing unit.Higher labor costs can mean fewer housing units. “You may get four housing units instead of five housing units for the same amount of money,” said Jason Ward, co-director of the Santa Monica-based RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness.say it could provide more than $1 billion a year for efforts to reduce homelessness in Los Angeles County — including hundreds of millions for affordable housing. That money would follow billions already spent to get people off the streets. But with more than 75,000 unhoused people in L.A. County,One answer is high labor costs. Many affordable housing projects in the county have to use union workers to qualify for public funding. Those requirements can increase construction costs by 15%, “You may get four housing units instead of five housing units for the same amount of money,” said Jason Ward, co-director of the Santa Monica-based RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness. Construction unions don’t dispute that labor requirements increase costs, but say they’re necessary to provide skilled workers, ensure fair wages, and create new jobs. The newest measure, known as Affordable Housing, Homelessness Solutions and Prevention Now, requires that 80% of funding for affordable housing be earmarked for projects that use union labor. If passed, the measure would leave most developers little choice — work with labor unions or miss out on hundreds of millions in funding.Labor requirements describe the worker pay, benefits, and in some cases, qualifications needed on a project. The first labor requirement in California was enacted nearly a century ago to prevent contractors from cutting wages to give them an edge when competing for government work.Labor requirements describe the worker pay, benefits, and in some cases, qualifications needed on a project.A second type of labor requirement goes a step further by making contractors work directly with construction unions. These hire-union requirementsmarked the first substantial requirement on affordable housing, according to the RAND Corporation. Some other cities have their own labor requirements. Prop. HHH allowed L.A. to raise $1.2 billion for affordable and permanent supportive housing projects. Almost two years after it passed,to use union labor for projects with more than $5 million in total construction costs or 65 housing units. That threshold was lowered to 40 units when voters passed theto Executive Directive 1, her flagship policy of streamlining permit approvals for affordable housing. Bass issued the order during her first week in office and is now pushing for the City Council to approve a permanent version. In a July 1 memo to the council, Bass said “we can’t forget about those who are building these projects and I am prepared to support labor standards and protections.”The measure on the November ballot, like past initiatives, requires contractors on all projects with more than 40 housing units to work with union labor. Miguel Santana, president of the California Community Foundation — one of the measure’s primary backers, said the newest measure incorporates lessons learned from past initiatives in L.A., like Prop. HHH, by being upfront about its labor requirements. He also said the measure offers developers other ways to cut costs, like prioritizing funding in pro-housing cities. Because of these cost saving strategies, Santana said, “our expectation is that the housing, the cost per unit, will be significantly less than what it currently is under HHH.”Requirements for union labor can lead to fewer affordable units and less projects overall, some researchers say. “When you start considering policies that might increase costs by, you know, 10 to 15%, you're essentially ruling out projects,” said Ward, author of theIn the study, he found that requirements for union labor increased construction costs by $43,000 per unit. He also discovered that some developers scaled down their projects to avoid using union labor. Ward estimated that around 800 fewer units would be built as a result.— Jason Ward, RAND Center on Housing and Homelessnes Ward said he thinks the higher cost may be worth it in some cases, but the tradeoffs should be made clearer to voters. “It's not really a robust legislative process that leads to these ,” said Ward. “And most voters don’t read a 40-page document before they vote on it.”Construction labor unions argue that labor requirements, like the one in the November ballot measure, help provide decent jobs for Angelenos struggling to get by.Many of the new construction jobs would be based in L.A. County because the measure prioritizes residents in the area for apprenticeships and work. One local union construction worker, Monse Roldan, said the union’s higher wages, on-the-job training, and immediate access to benefits like health care were life changing.Labor unions also argue that the benefits of hiring their workers outweigh the costs. “I would rather live in a union-built building, even if I had to pay a little more, because if there’s an earthquake, if there’s a fire, I know that we are more likely to survive it,” Roldan said. “They don’t just pay more, they expect so much more. And unions deliver.”, stressed to LAist in May that the measure would once again ask taxpayers to contribute more money to address the ongoing homelessness crisis. “To hit people who are just struggling to pay their own bills — to try and pay for this giant new bureaucracy to address homelessness, which is just an extension of what already has not worked — is an extremely bad idea,” Shelley said. The proposed L.A. County measure follows another recent ballot initiative aimed at addressing homelessness and mental health. In March, California votersLAist gets funding from the California Community Foundation. LAist funders have no influence on the assigning, reporting or editing of our stories.
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