Photo: Labor unions, renters’ rights advocates, community groups, and more rally outside Stanley Mosk Superior Courthouse on October 23 against billionaire real estate corporations’ lawsuit to overturn Measure ULA.

Last November, LA voters passed Measure ULA (a.k.a. the “Mansion Tax”) for a 4% tax on the sale of real estate above $5 million and 5.5% on the sale of real estate above $10 million to generate an estimated $900 million per year to fund a multi-solution approach to LA’s housing crisis. Through Measure ULA, this funding can be used for new affordable housing, tenant protections, and resources to prevent LA residents from becoming unhoused.

It’s no surprise that billionaire real estate corporations are not happy about the voters’ choice to pass the tax. These real estate moguls contributed to the housing crisis in our city and want to continue profiting from it. So, the real estate lobby used their wealth to challenge the measure in court, claiming that it’s “unconstitutional.”

But on October 24, in a major win for fair housing, an LA County Superior Court Judge dismissed their lawsuit. 

The real estate lobby says they plan to appeal the decision, and we can anticipate that they will exhaust every legal maneuver to delay paying what they owe. Every delay is more time that families facing homelessness go without the help they need. It will take citywide mobilization to force big real estate to pay for the housing crisis that they continue to fuel.