Promise tracker
Promised and delivered
Revenue projections from ballot measures, spending plans from budgets, unit goals from bonds and deadlines from court settlements, each compared with results.
City of Los Angeles
Measure ULA ("mansion tax")
City's first estimate, per year (later lowered to about $672M). Actual: Raised in its first year (Apr 2023 to Apr 2024).
Cumulative revenue reached $1.03B through November 2025, about what was first promised for a single year.
What does this mean?
Ballot measure estimates assumed high-value property would keep selling at past rates. There were fewer large sales after the tax took effect. Supporters say it still produces hundreds of millions for housing. Critics say it has slowed apartment and commercial sales. The Council is studying changes.
- Measure ULA (City of LA, 2022) (2022): A City tax paid when property sells for more than about $5 million, with a higher rate above about $10 million. The money goes to eight housing and tenant programs. Revenue has come in far below the first estimates.
Sources (3)
- Mansion tax at one year (Apr 4, 2024) Spectrum News
- Measure ULA: overview and revenue history Wikipedia
- Measure ULA surpasses $1B in revenue CRE Daily
City of Los Angeles
City homelessness budget, FY 2025-26 (ended June 30, 2026)
Budgeted: about $350M of City money plus $602M from state and federal grants and voter-approved taxes and bonds.
$325.8M of unspent FY 2024-25 money was carried into FY 2025-26, according to the CAO's March 2026 report.
Gap. Year-end spending for FY 2025-26 is not public. The CAO's quarterly report from March 2026 said the next report would include the FY 2025-26 budget breakdown, and the Controller's year-end review of the previous year came out in March. This card will be updated when either is published.
What does this mean?
The total comes from a news summary of the adopted budget (The LA Local), not a City document. It will be checked against the CAO's FY 2025-26 homelessness budget breakdown when that is posted.
Sources: Here's what your tax dollars are paying for in L.A.'s new budget (Jul 1, 2025) · Quarterly Comprehensive Homelessness Spending Report (CAO, Mar 25, 2026)
City of Los Angeles
Inside Safe, FY 2025-26
Funding authority for the year. Actual: Projected spending, per the CAO in April 2026.
The program was projected to spend about $31.1M more than its funding authority. The Council's April 29, 2026 vote moved up to $36.2M into the Homelessness Emergency Account and up to $24.0M from it to the Housing Department for Inside Safe's January to June costs.
What does this mean?
The bar can exceed 100% here. The promised figure is the spending limit, and the actual figure is a projection above it.
- Inside Safe (2022): Mayor Karen Bass's program that moves people from encampments into motels and other interim housing, then toward permanent housing. It began under the homelessness emergency the Mayor declared in December 2022.
Sources: FY 2025-26 Fourth Homelessness Funding Report (CAO, Apr 3, 2026) · Official Action of the City Council: FY 2025-26 Fourth Homelessness Funding Report (CF 23-1022-S29, Apr 29, 2026)
City of Los Angeles
Alliance settlement: shelter and housing spaces
Required by June 13, 2027. Actual: Open as of Dec 31, 2025 (4,584 more in progress).
If every in-progress project opens on time, the City would exceed the requirement by 199. The CAO reports that 357 units in four projects may not open by the deadline.
What does this mean?
- LA Alliance for Human Rights v. City of Los Angeles (2022): A federal lawsuit settlement in which the City agreed to create 12,915 shelter or housing spaces by June 13, 2027. In 2025 Judge David O. Carter found the City had not met its obligations and appointed a monitor.
Sources: Alliance Settlement status report (CF 23-1022-S30, data through Dec 31, 2025) · Judge finds Los Angeles failed to meet obligations for homeless residents (Jun 25, 2025)
City of Los Angeles
City homelessness budget, FY 2024-25
Budgeted (about $1.1B after adjustments and carryover). Actual: Spent, plus $119M committed.
The Controller's report, released March 23, 2026, found $473M unspent, mostly special-fund money that rolls over. Reasons given: state grants scheduled for later years, slow Measure ULA approvals, short staffing, and no single department in charge.
What does this mean?
The news report on this audit labels the fiscal year inconsistently. Because the Controller released it in March 2026, before FY 2025-26 ended, Tally LA treats it as FY 2024-25. The year label is pending review against the Controller's report.
Source: City Controller: LA didn't spend at least $473M on homelessness (Mar 24, 2026)
City of Los Angeles
City homelessness budget, FY 2023-24
Budgeted. Actual: Spent.
The Controller counted at least $513M unspent. Including money committed but not yet paid, NBC LA reported nearly $800M.
What does this mean?
LA County
Measure A homelessness sales tax
Projected: over $1B per year. Actual: Allocated in the FY 2025-26 spending plan.
Gap. This figure is budgeted from projections. It is not money collected. No public dataset shows Measure A's monthly receipts. The state's tax agency posts the County's distribution statements, and Tally LA is building an importer for them.
What does this mean?
- Measure A (LA County, 2024) (2024): A half-cent countywide sales tax for homelessness services and affordable housing, approved by County voters in November 2024. It replaced the quarter-cent Measure H on April 1, 2025, and splits its money by a fixed formula.
Sources (3)
- LA County Homeless Services & Housing: Measure A LA County
- Measure A spending plan process FY 2026-27, with FY 2025-26 allocations LA County Department of Homeless Services and Housing
- Payments and distributions for local jurisdictions and districts California Department of Tax and Fee Administration
City of Los Angeles
Proposition HHH supportive housing
Supportive units planned within 10 years of the 2016 vote (7,000 from HHH, 3,000 from other money). Actual: HHH units open as of Dec 31, 2025.
8,630 units in 131 projects have HHH funding. 2,256 are under construction. The ballot measure did not specify a number of units. The 10,000 figure is the Housing Department's plan, cited by the City Controller in 2019.
What does this mean?
- Proposition HHH (2016) (2016): A $1.2 billion City bond approved by voters in November 2016 to build supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness, plus affordable housing and facilities. Property owners repay the bonds through a charge on their property tax bills.
Sources: Proposition HHH quarterly report, Oct 1 to Dec 31, 2025 (LAHD and CAO) · The High Cost of Homeless Housing: Review of Proposition HHH (Oct 8, 2019)
LA County
Care First Community Investment (Measure J)
Budgeted in the first three years. Actual: Spent as of June 30, 2024.
$100M in year one, $200M in year two and $288.3M in FY 2023-24. The report's two tables give different County department totals ($355.4M vs $392.6M allocated). A reviewer flagged the difference.
What does this mean?
- Measure J (2020) (2020): A County charter amendment approved in November 2020 that directs a share of the County's locally generated, unrestricted money to community investment and alternatives to incarceration. The County funds it through its Care First Community Investment program.
Source: Care First Community Investment annual report (Mar 6, 2025)
LA County
Measure ER health care sales tax
Expected per year. Actual: Available to spend (collected since Oct 1, 2026 but held in escrow).
A lawsuit challenges AB 1768, the state law that let the County exceed the usual sales tax cap. Until it is decided, state law requires the County to hold the money in escrow.
What does this mean?
- Measure ER (2026) (2026): A countywide half-cent general sales tax approved by voters in June 2026 to help keep County health care and safety-net services running after federal and state cuts. It took effect October 1, 2026 and ends after five years. Because it is a general tax, the money goes into the County's General Fund. The Board's spending plan puts health care first. A lawsuit challenges the state law that allowed the County to exceed the usual sales tax cap, so the money is held in escrow until the case is decided.
Sources (3)
- Board of Supervisors Statement of Proceedings, Feb 10, 2026 Executive Office, LA County Board of Supervisors
- LA County is collecting its new sales tax. It can't spend any of it yet. The Sales Tax People
- Measure ER: what to know about the LA County health care sales tax NBC Los Angeles