Nithya Raman out as head of LA Housing and Homeless Committee

Nithya Raman is shedding her highly effective publish overseeing Los Angeles’ homelessness disaster after roughly three and a half years marked by canceled conferences, stalled reforms and a $62.6 million housing initiative she championed that positioned simply three households.

Metropolis Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson is splitting the Housing and Homelessness Committee Raman has chaired since 2023 as a part of a management reshuffle. The announcement shall be made in a letter set to be launched later this week, The California Submit has discovered.

Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado, an energetic Democratic Socialists of America member representing Council District 14, is anticipated to steer the newly separated homelessness committee.

Jurado’s district contains Skid Row, downtown Los Angeles and Boyle Heights and has traditionally contained the town’s largest focus of homelessness.

The shake-up comes as Raman challenges Mayor Karen Bass for mayor and faces rising scrutiny over her homelessness file — a centerpiece of her marketing campaign.

Raman’s work on the homeless committee has routinely stalled since she introduced her marketing campaign for mayor.

Greater than 130 issues piled up after each Housing and Homelessness Committee assembly over a five-week stretch in April and Might was canceled, the California Submit beforehand reported.

A $62.6 million homeless initiative championed by Raman additionally struggled, housing simply three households by June 25 regardless of a objective of transferring roughly 2,000 into everlasting housing, metropolis information reported by The Submit confirmed.

One other main reform additionally stalled: A March 2024 proposal exploring better metropolis management over homelessness applications sat for 316 days earlier than Raman’s committee took it up.

The federal authorities suspended Los Angeles Homeless Companies Authority (LAHSA) from federal grant exercise amid an investigation into monetary administration, conflicts of curiosity and contract oversight.

Federal investigators discovered LAHSA didn’t confirm practically 2,300 housing websites it was accountable for overseeing, whereas roughly 70% of contracts tied to these websites confirmed no reported spending in the course of the earlier 12 months.

Raman’s committee however authorised one other $358 million for LAHSA on this 12 months’s funds as a result of Metropolis Corridor nonetheless lacked the infrastructure to exchange it. Raman has argued the turmoil validates her push for stronger metropolis oversight.

The 2026 homeless depend estimated 45,194 homeless folks in Los Angeles, up 3.4% from the earlier 12 months, whereas unsheltered homelessness surged 7.9% to 29,115.

Raman has hammered Mayor Bass over the worsening numbers.

“The mayor’s job is to not clarify why another person is accountable,” Raman stated. “The mayor’s job is to take cost of the system and ship outcomes.”

Raman is campaigning on a promise to chop unsheltered homelessness citywide by at the least 50% earlier than the 2028 Olympics, however she’s going to now should make that case with out the homelessness committee gavel.

The Submit reached out to Raman for remark.

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