Coalition Launches Yes on H for Quarter-Cent Sales Tax to End Homelessness

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas opens the Yes on Measure H kickoff event this morning. Photo: Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.
County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas opens the Yes on Measure H kickoff event this morning. Photo: Joe Linton/Streetsblog L.A.

The Yes on H campaign kicked off this morning. The kickoff featured a broad array of elected officials from L.A. County Supervisors to L.A.’s mayor, to representatives from South Gate, Culver City, Pomona, Compton, West Hollywood, Santa Monica, and elsewhere. Labor, business, service providers, clergy, and formerly homeless people also spoke in favor of Measure H.

L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, calling homelessness the “greatest moral crisis of our time,” stressed that L.A. County’s Measure H works in conjunction with homeless housing to be built by L.A. City’s Measure HHH, passed last November. Garcetti also stressed that voters vote against Measure S, which would hamper city efforts to build housing for the homeless.

Voters in L.A. county will vote on Measure H on the March ballot. If passed, it will create a quarter-cent sales tax to go to county services to prevent homelessness and to support supportive and long-term housing services for homeless. The tax would start in July and continue for ten years before sunsetting. Services would be divided by city, based on homeless population counts.

For information on how to help Measure H pass, go to the People Assisting the Homeless (PATH) website.

ALSO ON STREETSBLOG

Measure R++? Maybe in 2014. Probably in 2016

|
In November of 2012, the Measure J ballot initiative went down to a narrow defeat despite garnering over 66% of the vote. Measure J would have extended the 2008 Measure R sales tax so that further bonding would be possible and promised transit projects could be completed sooner. From pretty much the moment the final […]

Streetsblog Transition Team: The First 100 Days

|
Garcetti layed out his own transportation agenda in our interview series during the primaries. It’s been a busy week for Livable Streets Advocates. Last week saw the redesign of the Spring Street Green Buffered Bike Lane approved by the City Council. Then was CicLAvia outraged the residents, businesses and road users of Downtown Los Angeles. […]

Coalition Celebrates Measure M Passing By Nearly 70 Percent

|
It is official: Measure M passed. Los Angeles County has voted, again, to tax itself to pay for a suite of projects to facilitate transit, driving, walking and bicycling. Measure M will double Metro’s 100 mile rail system over the next 40 years. As of this morning, Measure M achieved its needed two-thirds and is […]