Measure ULA, the voter-approved  “mansion tax” that was meant to address Los Angeles’ housing affordability crisis and boost construction jobs, is drawing new scrutiny. An April news release from the tax’s oversight committee claimed that, within its first two years, Measure ULA helped create 800 new affordable homes and 10,000 union construction jobs. Those figures are now facing serious questions about their accuracy.

LAist cited Professor and Chair of Urban Planning Michael Manville’s input on these controversial numbers. According to Manville, these statistics are highly implausible as there hadn’t been a lot of construction resulting from Measure ULA happening at the time the claim was made. 

“What it suggests to you is the possibility that the people at work sort of promoting and, in theory, even regulating this measure aren’t that interested in the details, aren’t that interested in the rigor and are more interested in just promoting a particular storyline,” he said.

Further investigation revealed that the method in which the estimate was obtained was fundamentally flawed and the post has since been altered to reflect these insights.