If it cost money, Tuesday’s voters were buying.
Tax proposals in Los Angeles County and in the city of Long Beach were off to strong starts in early returns Tuesday night, in the first sign that Southern California is willing to pay more in taxes in exchange for more homelessness programs, more affordable homes and an easier transition away from oil revenues funding core city services.
As of late Tuesday night 55% of Los Angeles County voters favored Measure A, which — if that lead holds — will replace the county’s quarter-cent sales tax with a half-cent tax.
Proponents say the measure will yield more than $1 billion annually to stave off a spiraling homelessness crisis exacerbated by the lack of affordable homes. It also allows Long Beach to raise its sales tax to 10.75% — matching the highest in the state — to generate an additional $24 million annually that city leaders say they’ll put toward essentials like infrastructure and public safety.
And 80% of ballots counted so far favored Long Beach Measure LB, which would repeal a longstanding tax exemption enjoyed by two local power plants. It’s expected to raise about $15 million annually for the city budget, an urgent remedy for the city as it is set to face increasing deficits in the coming years.
In a news release sent out shortly after the preliminary results, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson thanked voters for supporting Measure LB, along with other city initiatives JB and HC, which also posted healthy numbers.
“The People of Long Beach have spoken, and they are saying Yes to the future we all want in our city,” Richardson said. “With these results, we said yes to generate funding to preserve vital city services for our youth, seniors, and working families. We said yes to continuing to improve public safety and addressing homelessness.”
At a watch party at the Hyatt Centric in Downtown Long Beach, backers of the measures celebrated the ballot-box victories.
“I couldn’t be more proud of Long Beach or Los Angeles County in this moment,” Richardson said before a crowd at the poolside rooftop bar. “ … We can’t wait to roll up our sleeves and continue to build a community and city where everyone thrives.”
There was also much to cheer for in the Long Beach Community College District, where district voters Tuesday appeared to let loose their purse strings with early votes 67% in favor of a $990 million bond measure for construction, improvement and rehabilitation of buildings and programs at Long Beach City College. The borrowing will be paid back through increased property taxes.
Homebuilders are also excited. Sixty percent of the money it raises by Measure A would go toward comprehensive homelessness services, while 40% would be used to subsidize affordable housing projects and pay for homelessness prevention programs.
Erin Rank, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles, which has 54 units in development in Long Beach, said there is typically a 40% funding gap that stymies production. Some are hamstrung for so long that construction costs outweigh budgets.
“The main thing is that this money would bring housing units on the market sooner,” Rank said. “I have over 300 units of land for over 300 units that I can build, but I need the resources to be able to build them. And once I have those resources, I can start them immediately.”
Critics of Measure A, including the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., argued the public should be wary of the measure that hikes taxes with no sunset date. Opponents also question whether the millions already spent on homelessness have worked, pointing to the 75,000 unhoused people countywide in the most recent count.
Proponents say the Los Angeles homelessness crisis is decades in the making, a result of cascading failures to build and maintain a stock of affordable housing, the botched closure of state mental hospitals and a prison-to-street pipeline that together, will take decades to undo.
They argue that homelessness could rise 28% if Measure H expires in 2027 without a replacement. More than 42,000 people have been successfully cycled out of homelessness and into permanent housing with Measure H funding, according to Los Angeles County CEO Fesia Davenport.
Cal State Long Beach Political Science Professor Matt Lesenyie said he was “surprised by the margin” in the amount of support for Measure A, LB and AC despite “wonky, technical” descriptions that he felt made them unclear and confusing.
“I didn’t think they would all win by this much,” he wrote in an email. “I would explain the margin of victory as driven by the endorsement of the City Council. The fact that these were referred to voters by the council is a useful cue about the measure’s importance to the city and their agenda.”
When asked, Richardson said it comes down to residents understanding their role in the social contract, that one gets what one puts in. He also thinks the support came from a base of voters who trust their local government.
“I think if the federal government demonstrated less partisanship and less gridlock, I think they’d have that kind of support,” he said.
Measure LB will send $15 million to the city’s annual budget starting in 2026 — $18 million by 2030 — and $7.5 million to the next year’s budget, though revenue will ebb with utility prices and usage. Funding can cover anything from potholes to parks, police officers and more.
Richardson said the measure comes as a relatively painless way — the cheapest of four measures optioned this summer — to punctuate an estimated $20.3 budget shortfall that starts in 2025.
Measure LB won’t raise taxes. It will, however, increase electric bills among the 150,000 SoCal Edison customers in Long Beach. How much it will rise is unclear.
Some estimates show it’s $4 bump monthly, or $50 annually, for the 15 million SoCal Edison customers across Southern California. But city officials argue it will be much lower, at 50 cents a month or $6 annually, when split evenly throughout the region.
Which group bears the burden of the rate increase would be up to the California Public Utilities Commission.