Nithya Raman faces losing LA City Council homelessness committee leadership amid mayoral race
Raman faces removal from homelessness role
Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman is expected to lose her leadership role on the Housing and Homelessness Committee as she challenges Mayor Karen Bass in the November mayoral runoff.
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman is expected to lose her leadership role on the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, setting up a new political fight over the city’s response to homelessness as Raman challenges Mayor Karen Bass in the November mayoral runoff.
Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, a Bass ally, is planning to split the committee into two panels — one focused on housing and the other on homelessness. Raman would not lead either committee, according to reports.
Raman, who has called for an audit of the city’s homelessness programs, said the move is political retaliation.
"I might be getting punished for running against Mayor Bass, but Angelenos are the ones paying the price for these political games," Raman said in a video released Monday.
Raman also pointed to her call for an audit of the city’s homelessness programs, saying she was removed as chair after pushing for greater oversight.
But Councilmember Traci Park rejected the claim that the move is politically motivated.
"This is a change that is badly needed and long overdue," Park said in an exclusive FOX 11 interview.
Park said Raman had a responsibility to plan for the future and address problems facing the city’s homelessness response.
"There’s no political retaliation going on here," Park said. "She has not taken any substantive or meaningful action."
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez also criticized Raman’s record as committee chair.
"For years, Nithya Raman controlled homelessness policy," Rodriguez said. "As chair, she misled councilmembers into remaining invested in the failure that is LAHSA, and just last week, defended another $126 million of status quo investments and blocked reform."
"Three years of her leadership defending a broken system and blocking reform is long enough," Rodriguez said.
Former Los Angeles Chief Deputy Controller Rick Cole disagreed, calling the move political.
"This was a political move," Cole said, arguing that Harris-Dawson is a close ally of Bass and that the restructuring is an attempt to shift attention away from the city’s homelessness policies.
The battle comes as Los Angeles continues to grapple with rising unsheltered homelessness.
LAHSA’s latest count found that the number of people experiencing homelessness in the city increased 3.4% overall, while the unsheltered population increased nearly 8%.
But the latest count also showed a dramatically different trend in Raman’s Council District 4, where street homelessness declined 49%.
The contrast has become a central point in the political debate over who deserves credit — or blame — for Los Angeles’ homelessness numbers.
FOX 11 cameras on Monday also captured people sleeping outside City Hall, using drugs and engaging in other activity in public.
The Bass campaign has sharply criticized Raman’s record as committee chair.
"Nithya Raman canceled committee meetings for weeks, didn’t show up to votes, and failed to deliver on building more housing or getting people off the streets," Alex Stack, a spokesperson for the Bass campaign, said. "Her signature program has been a failure, spending over $60 million for nearly a year but only filling three apartments."
Stack also credited Bass with addressing homelessness through her Inside Safe program, saying the mayor has helped clean up more than 120 encampments and unlock 100,000 new homes.
Raman’s campaign pushed back, saying the councilmember’s removal follows her efforts to increase oversight of homelessness programs and challenge what it calls a "deeply broken status quo."
The campaign said Raman’s district saw a 49% reduction in street homelessness in the latest count and accused Bass of blocking an audit of the mayor’s $400 million Inside Safe program.
Raman’s campaign also pointed to her record on housing, including renter protections and proposals to increase housing production if elected mayor.
The City Council is expected to vote on the committee changes later this week.