Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti committed $100 MILLION to help the homeless back in 2105. Later he corrected himself and committed $138 MILLION.  As a good politician, he made the commitment of city funds without actually having a budget to do so. It’s great to be able to spend other people’s money, even before you steal it from them.

A significant portion of the funding is to come from “Linkage Fees“.

I’m not a financial wizard, hence I needed to look up what a “linkage fee” is. What Los Angeles City is implementing is “linking” a $5 per square foot “fee” on commercial development and a $12 per square foot “fee” on residential development to get the funds. The “fees” would be collected before a building permit would be issued.

You can read the FAQ on the “linkage fee” HERE

I always like how the politicians write these things up. It’s a “fee” not a “tax”. If they said, “we are implementing a new tax on construction”, I bet that there would be a lot more upset people. Quietly implementing a new “fee structure” to a program that is already “fee” based goes by mostly unnoticed. That’s why pols get paid the big bucks!

Just to put things in perspective, according to homeadvisor.com, the average cost of new residential construction for a 2000 square foot house, which by the way would be subject to the “fee”, is $150 per square foot.  The “linkage fee” is basically an 8% new construction TAX.

Hey it’s only $24,000 that you are giving to Consigliere Garcetti when you kiss his ring.

Besides, that’s just walking around money for the Hellywierd elite.