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Raman proposes starter homes to cut rents in LA
Candidate outlines housing plan as the city faces shortages and long construction timelines
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Pranavi Sharma - Fri, 03, Apr 2026
- 00:39 EDT
- 29
Nithya Raman / X
Nithya Raman, a candidate in the Los Angeles mayoral race, said she would expand homeownership and increase housing supply as part of a broader effort to address high rents in the city.
In a video posted on X, Raman outlined plans to legalize smaller, entry-level housing options and revise land-use policies. “We’ll expand home ownership by legalizing starter homes,” she said, describing the measure as part of a strategy to increase availability and reduce costs.
ALSO READ: Raman brands LA housing crisis “self-inflicted,”
A starter home or starter house is a house that is usually the first which a person or family can afford to purchase, often using a combination of savings.
Raman said Los Angeles has “the fewest homes per person of any city in the country,” arguing that the shortage allows landlords to raise rents significantly. “When housing is this scarce, landlords have the ability to jack up the rent really high,” she said.
Let’s lower the rent! As mayor, I will triple housing production by cutting red tape, lowering costs, and eliminating pointless bureaucracy. pic.twitter.com/1qmlFqCVxc
— Nithya Raman (@nithyavraman) April 3, 2026
She added that residents are among the most rent-burdened in the United States and pointed to delays in construction as a contributing factor. “It takes an average of 47 months to build an apartment here, the longest times anywhere,” Raman said.
Raman criticized the city’s approach to development, saying housing construction is often treated as something “to be stopped” rather than accelerated. She pointed to other cities that have increased supply and seen rents decline.
Running on a platform that includes housing affordability, infrastructure improvements, public safety, and job creation, Raman said she would prioritize increasing housing density near jobs and transit. She also called for modernizing land-use rules, including changes to zoning practices, whic are sometimes racially exclusionary.
Raman highlighted her work on tenant protections, saying she led what she described as the first major expansion of such protections in Los Angeles in 40 years. “As mayor, I’m going to ensure that we actually enforce those laws,” she said.
She added that her plan includes investment in housing options for residents not served by the private market, including “social housing, public housing, co-ops, land trusts, and a lot more affordable housing.”
An urban planner and homelessness activist, Raman was sworn in to the Los Angeles City Council in 2022 as its first woman member. She holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in urban planning from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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