Affordable Housing Measure Passes in L.A. by Wide Margin. Now What?

Besides electing a new president on November 8th, Angelenos also passed a ballot measure on affordable housing. "Measure JJJ, which passed with nearly 64% of the vote, requires developers to pay higher wages and build below-market rate units if they get exemptions from key planning rules — a common occurrence in Los Angeles, where the city's zoning is considered outdated," reports Andrew Khouri for the Los Angeles Times. But, while the measure received a great deal of support, developers claim it could have the unintended consequence of curbing building and constricting the supply of houses, eventually driving prices up.

Al Leibovic, who runs a development firm in the city, told the Times, "This is pretty devastating," he said. "It really throws all of our plans to construct an additional 700 units in the city of L.A. into question." Meanwhile labor advocates and housing advocate groups celebrated the success of the measure, noting that the wide margin of voters supported the bill and had made a statement and taken action to curb the housing crisis facing the city.

For more coverage of the ballot measures check out our election round-up.