ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
Nithya Raman's district bucks LA street homelessness trend
Councilmember contrasts district's street homelessness decline with citywide increases as mayoral race over housing intensifies in Los Angeles.
-
Pranavi Sharma - Mon, 27, Jul 2026
- 03:15 EDT
- 39
Nithya Raman / X@Nithya Raman
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman highlighted a sharp decline in street homelessness in her district on July 25, contrasting it with rising numbers across Los Angeles as she campaigns to unseat incumbent Mayor Karen Bass.
ALSO READ: California primaries mark Indian Americans' political evolution
Raman said street homelessness in her district fell 49% from the previous year, while citywide street homelessness increased nearly 8%, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority's January point-in-time count released on July 25.
By now you’ve probably seen the reports: despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent—and repeated assurances that Los Angeles had turned a corner—unsheltered homelessness increased by nearly 8% in this city. That is a moral outrage. And it is a failure of leadership.… pic.twitter.com/ARmWHW8RKq
— Nithya Raman (@nithyavraman) July 24, 2026
Street homelessness, which includes people living outdoors or in vehicles, increased across Los Angeles even as Raman's district recorded a significant decline. Overall homelessness, which includes people living in shelters and other temporary housing, rose 3.4% citywide, according to the authority's figures.
An estimated 45,194 people were experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles, with about 36% staying in shelters.
Speaking at a July 25 news conference, Raman said the results reflected an approach she would seek to implement across the city if elected mayor.
"Far fewer people living outside. Far more people indoors," Raman said. "As mayor, that is the approach, and the results, that I want to deliver citywide."
Raman, who has served on the City Council since 2020 and chairs the council's housing and homelessness committee, credited her office's homelessness team and what she described as an "aggressive interventionist" approach for the decline in her district. She said her staff knows many unhoused residents by name, tracks encampments on a map and works to ensure available shelter beds are filled.
The citywide increase presents a challenge for Bass, who has made addressing homelessness a central focus of her administration and had previously pointed to two consecutive years of declines in street homelessness.
Bass' campaign argued that Raman was criticizing the mayor's 'Inside Safe' program despite benefiting from its work in her district. The program moves people experiencing homelessness into shelters and motel rooms. Raman has previously criticized the initiative as too expensive and lacking transparency.
"Nithya Raman is taking credit for the results of Inside Safe while campaigning against it," Bass campaign spokesperson Alex Stack said in a statement. "While Raman takes credit for the City's work in her district, ignoring the fact that she's the Chair of the Homelessness & Housing Committee for ALL of Los Angeles, Mayor Bass is working to move our city forward and address years of neglect."
Raman responded that only three 'Inside Safe' operations had taken place in her district during the past four years, fewer than in some other council districts.
Asked about her responsibility for citywide homelessness as chair of the housing and homelessness committee, Raman said the mayor is responsible for carrying out policies.
"Council can pass legislation ... move motions forward, but it is the mayor that has charge of the implementation and outcomes," she said.
Citywide, 'Inside Safe' has moved more than 6,000 people into hotels, motels and other interim housing since Bass took office in December 2022. By May 31, 41% of those individuals had returned to homelessness, according to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority figures collected separately from this year's homeless count.
Bass said the citywide increase was partly the result of state and federal funding cuts, as well as inadequate county mental health and substance use treatment services.
"This crisis was ignored by city leaders for decades, it's only now that we've seen a historic decline," Bass said in a statement released on July 24. "I will never stop fighting until we end street homelessness, because no Angeleno should be sleeping on the street."
Discover more at New India Abroad.
Leave A Comment
Related
ADVERTISEMENT
ADVERTISEMENT
E Paper
Video
Comments
Start the conversation
Become a member of New India Abroad to start commenting.
Sign Up Now
Already have an account? Login