Faculty Publications
Document Type
White Paper
Keywords
Measure ULA; mansion tax; homelessness; affordable housing; Los Angeles; Los Angeles Times; LAist; filtering; anti-tax myth; news media
Abstract
“Measure ULA,” named after United to House LA, was approved by voters in Los Angeles in 2022 to create a dedicated, long-term funding source for solutions to homelessness in LA, including funding the construction of affordable homes and preventing homelessness by helping tenants stay in their homes. The funding would come from a new tax on the most expensive real estate transactions in L.A. (i.e., mansion tax), and would affect fewer than 4% of all property transactions. At the end of three years of local news coverage about Measure ULA from the Los Angeles Times and LAist, the news audience was left in early 2026 with two dominant news frames – that ULA reduced housing development in Los Angeles and ULA needs to be reformed. These two dominant frames – based on flawed studies – survived in the Los Angeles news media reports despite subsequent studies that demonstrated that ULA had not reduced housing development in Los Angeles and did not need to be reformed. The national news media, local and state politicians, and a statewide ballot initiative repeated the same faulty news frames. The study analyzed news stories from the first three years of Measure ULA, from April 2023 to March 2026, in the Los Angeles Times and LAist.com. Although the Los Angeles news media attended to the concerns of major developers, an entirely difference narrative was possible on the homelessness front. Homelessness dropped significantly from 2023 to 2025, yet none of the ULA-related stories in the study sample noted this.
Department
Department of Communication and Media
Original Publication Date
6-2026
Object Description
1 PDF File
Repository
UNI ScholarWorks, Rod Library, University of Northern Iowa
Copyright
©2026 Christopher R. Martin
Language
eng
File Format
application/pdf
File Size
1.7 MB
Recommended Citation
Martin, Christopher R., "News Media Coverage of Measure ULA: How the story of LA’s big project to address homelessness and affordable housing got sidetracked by the story of big real estate" (2026). Faculty Publications. 6955.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/facpub/6955
Included in
American Politics Commons, Journalism Studies Commons, Mass Communication Commons, Public Administration Commons, Public Policy Commons, Real Estate Commons, Regional Economics Commons, Social Policy Commons, Social Welfare Commons, Social Work Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons, Urban Studies Commons
