Who can make housing more affordable?

As election season draws to a close, Los Angeles is stuck in a housing market where no one seems to be winning. Developers aren’t building new apartments. Many tenants can’t afford rent, even though prices have largely been frozen for the last four years and home values are dropping, according to the Tribune News Service.

LA is one of the most expensive cities in the country, so a key question in the race for mayor is which candidate can make living here a bit cheaper. Both Mayor Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman champion the cause of housing affordability. Bass signed a handful of directives during her first term that fast-tracked affordable housing projects and created incentives to build new apartments, while Raman has spearheaded strong tenant protections during her time on the City Council.

The two have spent much of the last few years working in political parallel — Raman even endorsed Bass before joining the race herself. Now that they’re running against each other, the candidates are laying out similar visions for housing, but with subtle differences that could affect affordability.

Raman has embraced YIMBYism — the “yes in my backyard” movement — while Bass has been hesitant to label herself either YIMBY or Not In My Backyard. LA has long suffered an identity crisis, caught between the single-family homes of its past and the multifamily developments that density advocates say are needed for its future. The question of what and where to build is key to affordability and what the city will look like.

In a debate earlier this week, Bass highlighted her accomplishments in paving the way for new affordable housing, while Raman asserted that housing production is still lagging and Bass isn’t doing enough. Both candidates brought up housing in their opening statements and continued to reference the issue over the course of the hourlong debate.

“I do think we have to embrace density housing, but the question is how,” Bass said, later adding that more affordable housing was built during the four years of her administration than in many prior years. Raman responded by saying that the city hasn’t done nearly enough.

“We desperately need to address the cost of housing. It is the single biggest driver of the cost of living here in LA,” she said. “The mayor has paid lip service to that, but LA is still one of the most expensive and longest places to build in the country.”

Measure ULA, the so-called “mansion tax” that levies a 4% or 5.5% tax on LA property sales above $5.4 million, also came up in the debate. Not only mansions but also apartment buildings are subject to the tax, which developers say makes new projects financially unfeasible and has slowed down apartment construction.

The two candidates have been somewhat aligned in trying to tweak the tax. Bass pushed for a bill in the state Legislature that would have reduced taxes on apartment buildings but ended up withdrawing it. Raman tried to exempt newly built apartment complexes, but her proposal fizzled out in the City Council.

Raman was initially one of the loudest supporters of Measure ULA when it came before city voters in 2022. She has since switched her stance, which she explained at the debate.

“The data suggested before the measure was passed that it would not impact new housing construction. When the results of the measure started to come in, I looked at the data again and said we need to reform it,” she said, adding that her switch angered many of her allies and endorsers. “It still needs reform, and I’ll fight for that reform as mayor.”

Bass pointed to her effort to change the measure at the state level. “Anything that is going to inhibit housing needs to be examined,” she said. Perhaps Bass’ biggest housing accomplishment during her first term was Executive Directive 1, which she signed her first week in office, requiring the city to fast-track approval of 100% affordable housing projects with below-market rents. Under the now-permanent directive, more than 47,000 units of affordable housing are in the pipeline, with 7,728 of them under construction, according to the mayor’s campaign.