Los Angeles is about to move nearly $361 million in Measure ULA money into 80 affordable-housing projects scattered across the city, a major cash infusion that leans heavily on keeping existing homes affordable. The funding round is expected to touch more than 5,200 homes and covers both new construction and the stabilization of existing income-restricted properties. Mayor Karen Bass signed the Homes for L.A. Notice of Funding Availability on May 1, 2026, clearing the way for awards and contracts to start rolling out. It is the first large-scale deployment of the voter-approved transfer tax that is supposed to bankroll housing and tenant protections.
City records show the City Council adopted the NOFA on April 29, and the mayor’s concurrence is recorded in the official paperwork. See the City Clerk for the April 29 vote and the mayoral concurrence.
Under the Homes for L.A. framework, the Los Angeles Housing Department plans to distribute nearly $361 million across 80 projects, with roughly 1,528 units slated for new construction and about 3,713 units targeted for preservation or stabilization, with funding split into six program streams for production, preservation and operations, according to The Real Deal. LAHD General Manager Tiena Johnson Hall said in the city’s release, “We now can move the needle in a meaningful way for Angelenos to have safe, affordable housing available to them.” The NOFA specifically backs nontraditional “alternative models” such as community land trusts, tenant cooperatives and other shared-equity structures, and it allows LAHD to cover up to 100 percent of preservation deals and up to 80 percent of new-construction costs in that program.
Where the money came from and the politics
Measure ULA is funded by a tiered transfer tax on high-end property sales and has become the city’s central new revenue source for housing since its implementation in 2023. An Ad Hoc Committee on Measure ULA recommended the $360 million allocation before it went to the full council, as reported by FOX 11 Los Angeles, but the levy has sparked debate about carve-outs and whether it has chilled new multifamily construction. At the same time, oversight officials have warned that hundreds of millions in homelessness and housing dollars remain unspent and have urged faster contracting so money actually turns into homes, according to local reporting and the city controller’s review.
What to watch next
Awards still have to clear underwriting, federal and state funding stacks and then move into contract execution, a series of steps that can take months to years depending on project complexity and financing. The Los Angeles Housing Department has posted the NOFA transmittal and related materials on its site and will remain the main spot to track award notices, timelines and FAQs, so developers, nonprofits and tenant groups will want to keep an eye on LAHD’s portal for next steps and deadlines. LAHD will handle contracting and public announcements as projects advance into the pipeline.
If the city can speed approvals and contracting, this first tranche could preserve and stabilize thousands of homes relatively quickly while getting a smaller batch of new projects into the ground over the next 12 to 24 months. For now, the rollout doubles as a political and administrative stress test: can Measure ULA money push past the usual financing bottlenecks and actually deliver units that Angelenos can live in, not just read about in budget documents.
