Voters in Los Angeles are expressing skepticism of Measure A, a ballot initiative that would raise sales taxes in the county to provide more services to the homeless, expanding Measure H, which was passed by referendum in 2017.
Measure H raised sales taxes by a quarter of a percent — and the homeless population kept rising. That rise was driven by a variety of factors, but access to generous services — like hotel rooms — may have been one of them.
While opinion polls suggest that support for Measure A is near 50%, that is far lower than the nearly 70% support Measure H received in 2017, when the electorate was more optimistic about the effect of spending on homelessness.
Politico noted Monday that Measure A “faces no organized organized opposition” — only public skepticism:
Measure A would increase the city’s existing 9.5 percent sales tax by an additional quarter-cent and bring in more than $1 billion per year. The previous Measure H tax is set to expire in 2027. Backers of Measure A say letting it expire without putting something new in place would be existential in a region where homelessness is particularly acute, with 75,000 unhoused people in the county as of the most recent annual count.
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A state audit report released this spring found that California did not consistently track the effectiveness of $24 billion worth of spending to combat homelessness, which further fueled skepticism about handing governments more money on the issue. A separate report from the LA City Housing Department estimated the cost of solving homelessness in the city would be $21.7 billion.
“Most voters believe the current spending on homelessness is fraught with abuse, waste and fraud,” said LA-based Democratic consultant Michael Trujillo. “We see these audits saying the state can’t account for billions of dollars and how we spent them, and this feels like we’re rewarding the same leaders.”
The Los Angeles Times noted that even though Measure A is leading in the polls, “Only 33% said they thought Measure A would ‘greatly reduce homelessness’ compared with 38% who thought it would not.”
The Los Angeles County electorate is becoming increasingly skeptical — for now — of left-wing policies. George Soros-backed District Attorney George Gascón, who has championed radical “criminal justice reform” policies, is losing to challenger Nathan Hochman by a massive 30%, according to recent polls, even in the heavily-Democratic county.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
