Simply hours after Los Angeles launched troubling new figures displaying homelessness is as soon as once more on the rise citywide, Housing and Homelessness Committee Chair Nithya Raman celebrated a pointy decline in her personal district — regardless of the worsening disaster unfolding underneath the committee she leads.
Raman touted a 49% drop in unsheltered homelessness in Council District 4, arguing the outcomes present her data-driven technique ought to function the mannequin for the remainder of Los Angeles.
The councilwoman additionally highlighted a 41% decline in tents, RVs and different makeshift shelters, attributing the advance to what she referred to as an “aggressive interventionist strategy” constructed round intensive outreach, devoted homelessness employees, fixed encampment monitoring and intently monitoring out there shelter beds.
“My workplace takes essentially the most aggressive interventionist strategy to homelessness one can find in Los Angeles,” Raman stated, arguing relentless oversight — not merely spending extra money — had produced outcomes few different districts may match.
The celebration got here towards a starkly completely different citywide backdrop.
Newly launched homeless rely information confirmed homelessness in LA rose 3.4% this yr to 45,194 individuals, whereas the quantity residing unsheltered climbed 7.9% to 29,115, reversing two straight years of declines regardless of governments now spending practically $3 billion yearly on homelessness packages.
The figures positioned Raman in an uncomfortable place.
As chair of the Metropolis Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, she leads the panel chargeable for overseeing homelessness coverage, holding businesses accountable and advancing laws on certainly one of Los Angeles’ costliest and politically charged crises.
However when repeatedly pressed about why homelessness elevated throughout town whereas she chairs that committee, Raman drew a pointy distinction between setting coverage and working day-to-day operations.
“The mayor is the CEO of our metropolis,” Raman stated throughout a press convention on Friday.
She stated the Metropolis Council writes coverage whereas Mayor Karen Bass is finally chargeable for carrying it out. Raman maintained she has direct operational management solely inside Council District 4.
Moderately than accepting duty for the citywide enhance, Raman repeatedly returned to the leads to her personal district, arguing Los Angeles wants way more rigorous oversight of each homelessness program.
She stated Metropolis Corridor ought to measure outcomes “program by program, mattress by mattress,” rapidly get rid of methods that fail and broaden people who persistently transfer individuals into everlasting housing.
One of many largest components behind this yr’s rise in homelessness, in accordance with LAHSA, was a scarcity of funding for Time Restricted Subsidies, a program that gives short-term rental help and case administration to assist individuals transfer into everlasting housing.
In its annual report, the company discovered that after funding for this system was lowered, new enrollments dropped sharply.
Everlasting housing placements fell by greater than 5,000 individuals, exits from shelters into everlasting housing declined 36%, and the slowdown created bottlenecks that left extra individuals caught in shelters or returning to the streets.
Raman defended this system, which has turn out to be a centerpiece of her mayoral marketing campaign, calling Time Restricted Subsidies one of many area’s strongest-performing homelessness methods.
She argued the rise in homelessness displays a scarcity of funding for this system, not a failure of the mannequin itself.
However Raman’s help for the initiative has additionally turn out to be certainly one of her largest political vulnerabilities.
Earlier this yr, The California Submit reported that town’s redesigned Time Restricted Subsidy program — backed by a $62.6 million price range and promoted as a quicker, cheaper various to hotel-based packages, had housed simply three households practically a yr after metropolis leaders authorised the overhaul, regardless of an unique objective of serving to about 2,000 households.
Inside hours of Friday’s press convention, Bass’ marketing campaign seized on the distinction.
Marketing campaign officers stated Raman was taking credit score for enhancements that occurred whereas Bass’ signature Inside Secure program was working all through Council District 4.
Based on the marketing campaign, Inside Secure has moved 236 individuals indoors in Raman’s district since 2023 — extra individuals than the decline Raman highlighted Friday.
The marketing campaign additionally famous Raman didn’t attend any of the Inside Secure operations performed in her district final yr, regardless of now citing the district’s declining homeless numbers as proof her strategy works.
“Nithya Raman is taking credit score for the outcomes of Inside Secure whereas campaigning towards it,” Bass marketing campaign spokesperson Alex Stack stated.
“Raman’s signature marketing campaign platform on homelessness has been an entire failure, solely filling three households after practically a yr and over $60 million. Whereas Raman takes credit score for the Metropolis’s work in her district, she’s additionally the chair of the Homelessness & Housing Committee for all of Los Angeles.”
The Bass marketing campaign additionally accused Raman of reversing course politically, noting she praised Inside Secure after homeless numbers declined in 2024 earlier than criticizing this system throughout her mayoral marketing campaign as too costly and fiscally unsustainable.
