LOS ANGELES — Elected leaders and homeless services providers are celebrating the grand opening of 40 new units of affordable housing in North Hollywood, where dozens of women experiencing homelessness because of domestic violence can take refuge.

What You Need To Know

  • NoHo 5050 is a 100% affordable housing building developed by DECRO Corporation and Daylight Community Development

  • City leaders secured $500,000 of Prop HHH funding for the construction of the building, and additional funds from Measure H will fund on-site supportive services for residents

  • Of the 40 units, 33 will be designated for women who are experiencing homelessness because of domestic violence

  • Measure H will expire in 2027, but a new effort is hoping to make the sales tax permanent in order to fund affordable housing and homeless services

Millie Brown was homeless for five years. Brown says finding permanent supportive housing, which offers on-site behavioral services to residents, is ultimately what helped her recover from the trauma she endured and get back on her feet.

“A lot of times, things can be traumatizing and triggering, so it’s very reassuring to know that you have that support, right there, at arm’s reach,” Brown said.

But in order to supply that help, groups like the Downtown Women’s Center, a homeless services provider on Skid Row, rely heavily on government funding to carry out their work.

That includes money from Measure H — a countywide quarter-cent sales tax that funds homeless services and affordable housing.

Amy Turk, the CEO of Downtown Women’s Center says those dollars are crucial.

“That pays for our staff to provide supportive services to residents,” Turk said. “And make sure that no one falls back into homelessness,” she added.

Voters in LA overwhelmingly approved Measure H back in 2017, but now that it’s set to expire in 2027, there’s an effort to repeal and replace it with a permanent measure — one that would also instate a higher, half-cent sales tax instead.

Supporters of this effort turned in more than 410,000 signatures that would get this initiative on the ballot for November, and the Registrar’s Office only needs 238,000 valid signatures for it to qualify.

Susan shelly from the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association says this effort will likely meet pushback from voters, who are already dealing with inflation and a higher cost of living.

“This is a sales tax. This is hitting people in an inflationary environment really hard and where are the outcomes?” Shelly said. “Where is the data that shows good outcomes?”

Just recently, a state audit found that California officials failed to adequately track more than $20 billion of homelessness spending, raising questions about efficacy and transparency.

A similar audit is expected this year for Los Angeles.

But whatever voters decide, finding the right funding to build more housing is crucial to helping people like Millie get back on their feet.