A prominent figure in the Los Angeles mayoral race has placed homelessness at the forefront of her campaign, yet her track record as a city councilmember reveals unspent funds earmarked for addressing this very issue.
Nithya Raman, who leads the LA City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, was allocated a $4 million grant from the state specifically aimed at cleaning up a large homeless encampment along the LA River. However, according to records examined by the California Post, these funds remain largely untouched.
Currently, Raman is one of the leading contenders in a competitive mayoral race. A recent poll conducted by UC Berkeley and the LA Times shows incumbent Karen Bass leading with 26 percent among likely voters, closely followed by Raman at 25 percent, and first-time Republican candidate Spencer Pratt trailing at 22 percent.
The encampment along the LA River, which the grant was meant to address, houses approximately 90 individuals living in tents and makeshift shelters. Many of these residents struggle with addiction issues and frequently cycle between incarceration and public housing programs. Tragically, last month, a resident was discovered deceased in one of the tents.
The $4 million grant awarded to Raman’s committee was part of California’s Encampment Resolution Fund, a state initiative designed to transition homeless individuals into permanent housing solutions.
Despite Raman’s campaign highlighting the moral failure of becoming desensitized to homelessness, as stated on her website, the funds intended to alleviate the situation at the LA River encampment have seen little action.
The encampment has been around for years. Some of its residents told the California Post they have been living by the river for decades.
A community advocate named Cameron Flanagan told the outlet that she is aware of the grant and has repeatedly asked Raman’s office for help, but the only outreach she has witnessed was after headlines drew attention to the problem.
LA Mayoral candidate Nithya Raman has made tackling homelessness a pillar of her campaign but has yet to spend a $4 million grant to address the problem while on the city council
The grant was issued to clean up a sprawling encampment at the LA River where about 90 people live in tents. A separate LA encampment a few blocks from the river is pictured
Once media attention dies down, she said, outreach drops off, and the encampment continues to operate as usual.
That sporadic assistance is a far cry from the proposal Raman received funding for, which pledged that LA Family Housing would conduct daily outreach to the people living on the banks of the LA River.
The proposal stated its goal was to serve 90 people in the encampment by moving 75 of them into interim housing before transitioning all 90 into permanent accommodations.
Los Angeles has the second-largest homeless population among cities in the US, but the problem is particularly visible because around two-thirds of the population experiences unsheltered homelessness and live on the streets.
New York City, by comparison, has a total homeless population around twice as high as LA, but only around four percent of them are without shelter due to a decades-old NYC law that mandates shelter be provided to any homeless individual who applies.
A spokesperson for Raman told the California Post that the $4 million grant has been ‘caught in administrative and contracting processes.’
The spokesperson noted that Raman ‘has consistently treated homelessness as the urgent crisis it is’ and called the bureaucratic holdup ‘deeply frustrating.’
The money will begin going towards tackling the LA River encampment by the end of the month, the spokesperson added.
Los Angeles has the second-highest homeless population among all cities in the country, and the problem is particularly visible because around two-thirds of the population is unsheltered
A Raman spokesperson said the grant has not yet been used because of bureaucratic holdups. An LA homeless encampment under a bridge is pictured
‘The Encampment Resolution Fund is intended to support rapid outreach and housing interventions, not sit idle while City departments work through bureaucracy,’ the spokesperson’s statement said.
‘We remain focused on making sure this funding translates into real outreach, real housing placements, and visible progress for both unhoused Angelenos and the surrounding community.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Raman’s campaign for further comment.
