Measure GSH transfer to the Housing Trust Fund

Sales tax money the city moves each year into affordable-housing loans.

What it is

In November 2016 Santa Monica voters raised the city's sales tax by half a cent. That tax is Measure GSH. Its money goes into the General Fund, the city's main account. On the same ballot, voters answered an advisory question, Measure GS, saying half of the new money should go to schools and half to affordable housing. Advisory means it is a recommendation, not a law.

Every year since, city finance staff have moved the housing half out of the General Fund and into a separate account called the Housing Trust Fund. That move is this budget line: one transfer, account 01800002.691740, planned at $9,348,500 for FY2026-27. No one is employed by the line itself. It is a bookkeeping entry that decides how much money the housing account gets.

On a normal Tuesday the money does two things. About $4.3M a year pays Housing Division staff, operations and Preserving Our Diversity (POD), a monthly cash subsidy for long-time low-income renters. The rest becomes loans to nonprofit builders. A new affordable building is usually paid for with federal tax credits and a bank loan, and the city fills the gap that is left. The city says that gap has averaged $272,000 per home.

The tax exists partly because the state shut down local redevelopment agencies in 2012, and those agencies had paid for affordable housing. The city's housing staff describe GSH as the local response to that loss.

How it started

Santa Monica voters passed Measure GSH on Nov 8, 2016, 26,190 to 15,812 (62.35%), raising the local transactions and use tax from 0.5% to 1%. The ballot question listed "preservation of affordable housing, reducing homelessness, school repair and improvement" and other general services. The companion advisory Measure GS passed with about 70% (secondhand). The tax took effect April 1, 2017. City housing staff describe GSH as the response to the state's elimination of the Redevelopment Agency. Since then the Council has held back the housing transfer four times. On May 5, 2020 it kept the $5.9M FY2020-21 transfer to cover COVID losses. After the Council approved a $122.5M sexual-abuse settlement on April 25, 2023, it paid part of the bill with $25M of the Housing Trust Fund's General Fund money plus deferred transfers of $5.6M (FY2022-23) and $5.1M (FY2023-24). It later deferred another $0.6M of FY2023-24 and $5.0M of FY2024-25. On Oct 24, 2023 the Council adopted a payback plan, now $339,242 a year for four years from FY2025-26. The Housing Division stopped taking new loan applications in 2020 and restarted in July 2025, when the full transfer resumed at $9,103,250.

What we take and when

Starting with the FY2027-28 budget adopted in June 2027, the Council would send $4.0M to $4.5M less each year from the General Fund to the Housing Trust Fund. The transfer would drop from about $9.35M to about $4.8M to $5.3M. The money stays in the General Fund and pays bed operating contracts under demand D5. The payback plan for past deferrals is not touched.

The numbers today

Planned GSH transfer to the Housing Trust Fund$9,348,500FY2026-27 budget plan fact
Adopted GSH transfer$9,103,250FY2025-26 fact
Actual transfer in a deferral year$3,619,114 (FY2022-23); $3,214,295 (FY2023-24)FY2022-23, FY2023-24 fact
Yearly GSH-fund spending on Housing Division staff, operations and POD$4,345,914FY2026-27 projection fact
Average city Housing Trust Fund subsidy per affordable home$272,000historical average, Sept 2025 memo fact
Housing Trust Fund money held for a SAMOSHEL shelter replacement$14,000,000Sept 2025 fact
Housing Trust Fund money withheld to cover General Fund contingencies$47,200,000Sept 2025 fact
Payback to the Housing Trust Fund for past deferrals$339,242 a year for four yearsfrom FY2025-26 fact
Amount the petition takes$4.0M to $4.5M a yearfrom FY2027-28 inference
Affordable homes that sum would otherwise help financeabout 15 to 17 a year ($4.0M to $4.5M divided by $272,000)from FY2027-28 inference
Beds that sum runsabout 62 to 69 motel or tiny-home beds at $65,000 each, or 114 to 129 shelter beds at $35,000per year inference

What we give up

We give up $4.0M to $4.5M a year of city loans to new deed-restricted affordable housing, which at the city's average of $272,000 per home is about 15 to 17 fewer homes financed each year (inference). The squeeze is tighter than that number suggests. The GSH fund already spends about $4.35M a year on Housing Division staff and POD rent help. If those stay whole, the smaller transfer leaves roughly $0.5M to $1.0M a year for new loans (inference). City housing staff expect three city-owned sites, Bergamot Station (707 affordable homes), 4th/5th and Arizona (362) and the Main Street lots (577), to need substantial trust-fund money. Those projects would move slower or need other money.

Why this works

A person sleeping outside tonight is helped by a bed that opens this year. An affordable apartment financed in 2027 opens only after financing and construction. Places that added beds saw outdoor counts fall. Culver City paired its 2023 camping ban with a 73-unit Homekey site and a safe-sleep village. Its unsheltered count fell from 51 in 2025 to 38 in 2026, and 164 people were in city-program shelter on count night (secondhand, Wave). Houston, the national model for housing first, saw unsheltered homelessness rise 15.8% in 2025 when shelter capacity fell (CFTH). San Diego's auditor found the downtown drop went largely into city safe-sleeping sites (audit). RAND found that removing tents without a place to go turned about three of every four into vehicles or rough sleeping (RAND). In Santa Monica's 2026 count, sheltered people rose by 20 while people outdoors fell by 86 (city). The money taken here runs about 62 to 69 private-room beds every year (inference).

The strongest case against

Permanent housing is the only exit that lasts. Shelter without exits fills up and stops moving: Los Angeles's audited programs saw 47.8% of participants return to homelessness (secondhand), and Pathways to Housing kept 88% housed at five years against 47% under treatment-first (Psychiatric Services, 2000). The GSH housing share is the city's main local source of money for permanent affordable homes, and the city has already raided it four times, twice to pay sexual-abuse settlements, while promising voters and the Housing Trust Fund it would pay the money back. Seventy percent of voters told the Council in 2016 that half this tax belongs to housing. The city owes the state affordable homes on three city-owned sites under its Housing Element, and the trust fund had only $2.1M uncommitted in July 2025. After staff and POD costs, this cut leaves almost nothing for new loans. The Council majority was elected on affordable housing. Cutting the one line that builds apartments to pay for beds trades a permanent fix for a temporary one.

Our answer

The exit problem is real, and it is why the petition pairs these beds with 200 rent subsidies for people leaving them, paid from the separate Measure GS (2022) housing fund (PLAN D5). On the law, GSH is a general tax and the housing split rests on advisory Measure GS, which binds no one (FY2025-27 Adopted Budget, appendix). The GSH ballot question itself named "reducing homelessness" as a purpose. The city already uses trust-fund money for shelter: $14M is held for a SAMOSHEL replacement (Sept 2025 memo). We take under half of the transfer, leave the payback plan alone, and do not touch Measure GS (2022). The cost is about 15 to 17 fewer subsidized homes a year (inference). We accept that cost because 496 people were counted outside in January 2026, and a bed is the step that gets them inside this year.

Who decides

Who votes: Santa Monica City Council, seven members, including whoever wins the three seats on the Nov 3, 2026 ballot.
Votes needed: The two-year budget resolution passes with a majority of councilmembers present at adoption, which is 4 if all seven attend. Any budget change after adoption needs five affirmative votes (FY2025-27 Adopted Budget, budget process and glossary).
When: FY2027-29 biennial budget: study sessions about May 2027, adoption about June 2027 (inference from the June 2025 and June 2026 schedule). A mid-year change in Feb to Mar 2027 needs five votes.
Where the rule is written: santamonica.gov

The agenda or process

Questions people ask

Isn't this just moving money around?

Yes, and that is the point. The city already moves this money every year by a Council vote. We ask that part of it move to beds instead of loans. No tax goes up.

Didn't voters say half of this tax goes to housing?

Seventy percent of voters said so in an advisory vote in 2016. Advisory means it is not binding, and the Council has held the money back four times since, twice to pay legal settlements. The tax ballot question also listed reducing homelessness as a purpose.

Why not cut something else instead?

We do: six other lines are on the list. GSH is the largest line that is not legally locked. The voter-restricted Measure GS (2022) fund cannot pay for shelter, so we use it for rent subsidies instead.

Will people actually use the beds?

The city's own 2026 count shows people move inside when there is room: sheltered rose by 20 while people outdoors fell by 86. Most of the planned beds are private rooms or managed spaces, and the petition requires a monthly public report of beds offered and refused (D3).

Does this break the promise to repay the Housing Trust Fund?

No. The $339,242 yearly payback stays. We reduce future transfers, which the Council sets each budget.

Sources

FY2025-27 Operating Budget Line Item DetailTransfer amounts by year for account 01800002.691740
FY2025-27 Adopted Biennial BudgetGS/GSH description, deferrals and payback plan, budget vote rules
Status of City's Housing Trust Funds, information item, Sept 4, 2025$272,000 per home, $4.35M staffing and POD, $14M SAMOSHEL reserve, $47.2M withheld, application pause and restart, city-owned sites
Ballotpedia, Measure GSH (November 2016)Ballot question text and vote count
Ballotpedia, Measure GS advisory (November 2016)Advisory vote, about 70% yes (secondhand)
City blog, New Affordable Housing Opens in Santa MonicaExamples of GSH-funded buildings (secondhand, not opened directly)
Santa Monica 2026 homeless count press release718 total, sheltered up 20, outdoors down 86
Wave Publication on Culver CityCulver City unsheltered fell from 51 to 38; 164 people in city-program shelter on count night
Coalition for the Homeless, Houston 2025 countHouston unsheltered rose 15.8% when shelter capacity fell
San Diego City Auditor, April 2026Downtown drop moved largely into safe sleeping sites
RAND RRA4903-1Tents removed without places became rough sleeping
Petition city funding ledgerTake size, bed costs and the full list of lines considered

Words on this page

budget plan: The second-year numbers in Santa Monica's two-year budget. The Council approves them in June of the first year and can revise them a year later.
congregate shelter: A shelter where many people sleep in one shared room.
deed-restricted: Housing legally required to rent at an affordable price to lower-income households for decades.
deferral: Holding back a planned transfer for a year, with a promise to pay it later.
fiscal year (FY): The city's budget year, July 1 to June 30. FY2027-28 runs July 1, 2027 to June 30, 2028.
five affirmative votes: Santa Monica's rule for changing the budget after it is adopted: five of the seven councilmembers must vote yes.
General Fund: The city's main checking account. Most local taxes go in, and police, parks, libraries and most staff are paid out of it. Money in it can be moved by a Council vote.
Housing Element: The state-required plan that says how many homes, including affordable ones, a city will allow and help build.
Housing Trust Fund: City accounts that lend money to nonprofit builders to create or preserve affordable apartments.
HSH: Los Angeles County's Department of Homeless Services and Housing, which took over county homelessness programs in 2026.
interim housing: A temporary place to sleep indoors with services, such as a shelter bed, a motel room or a tiny home, while someone waits for an apartment.
Low-Income Housing Tax Credit: A federal tax break sold to investors that pays for much of a new affordable building.
Measure GS (2016): An advisory question on the same 2016 ballot. Voters said half of GSH should go to schools and half to affordable housing. It is a recommendation the Council follows by choice.
Measure GS (2022): A different measure with the same letters: a 2022 tax on property sales over $8M whose money is legally restricted to schools, homelessness prevention and affordable housing.
Measure GSH: A half-cent general sales tax passed by Santa Monica voters in November 2016. Its money goes into the General Fund.
non-congregate: Interim housing where each person or couple has their own room or unit, such as a motel room or tiny home, instead of a shared dorm.
PIT count: Point-in-Time count. A one-night count of people experiencing homelessness, done each January or February. Santa Monica's 2026 count found 718 people, 496 of them unsheltered.
POD (Preserving Our Diversity): A city program that pays monthly cash help to long-time low-income Santa Monica renters, mostly seniors, so they can stay in their homes.
RAND: A nonprofit research organization in Santa Monica that runs its own homeless counts and studies.
Redevelopment Agency: A local agency, abolished by the state in 2012, that used growth in property taxes to pay for affordable housing and projects.
SAMOSHEL: Santa Monica's 60-bed congregate shelter, run by The People Concern, which the city plans to replace.
transactions and use tax (TUT): The legal name for a local add-on sales tax. Santa Monica's is 1%: 0.5% from Measure Y (2010) and 0.5% from GSH (2016).
transfer: Moving money from one city account to another. This line is a transfer from the General Fund to the Housing Trust Fund.
unsheltered: Sleeping outdoors, in a vehicle or in a tent, instead of in a shelter.