Nithya Raman may advocate for socialist policies, but plans for her Silver Lake home are drawing criticism from some neighbors.
The California Post reports that Raman is preparing a major demolition and reconstruction project at her $1.9 million property, which would increase the home’s living space by 88%.
According to city records, the Los Angeles mayoral candidate plans to replace the 1948 house she shares with her husband, TV producer Vali Chandrasekaran, and their twin children with a three-story residence featuring a spa and a two-car garage.
Raman purchased the three-bedroom property in 2015 for $1.25 million, setting a record at the time for a home in the Echo Park-Silver Lake area.
The existing 1,879-square-foot house includes hardwood floors, wood-beamed ceilings, a gourmet kitchen, walk-in closets and a large deck offering panoramic views.
An application filed with the Los Angeles Department of Building and Safety shows that Raman is seeking to expand the home to 3,528.3 square feet—a proposal that has unsettled some neighbors.
Several local residents told The Post they were surprised by the scale of the proposed redevelopment.
“This is really disappointing to hear,” one neighbor told The Post. “I had no idea. It’s a shame she would want to do something like that.”
Another resident cited a large modern home recently built nearby, calling it a “mammoth eyesore” and saying it had already affected the neighborhood’s character.
The city’s SurveyLA program identifies Raman’s current property as a “contributor” to the Silver Lake Residential Historic District, meaning the home helps define the area’s historic character.
That designation, however, does not prohibit the property from being demolished.
“It’s a shame,” another neighbor told The Post while discussing Raman’s plans to tear down the home.
“This is really going to have a great impact on this community.”
City filings show Raman’s ambitions for the property have grown as dramatically as her increased profile in Los Angeles.
A 2022, she applied to remodel and expand the existing house, adding a pool or spa and converting the garage into an accessory dwelling unit. By 2025, the remodel had become a teardown.
The project also requires hillside grading, temporary shoring and new retaining walls.
An LADBS employee confirmed to the California Post that the project remains pending.
The expensive rebuild comes as Raman campaigns for mayor with Los Angeles’ crushing housing costs at the center of her pitch.
Raman has been a member of the Democratic Socialists of America since before her first City Council campaign in 2020, and DSA-LA endorsed her mayoral bid earlier this month.
The socialist group calls housing a human right and wants more housing taken out of the private market and put under public or community control.
Raman, meanwhile, has branded the inability to affordably house Angelenos “the compounding moral crisis of our time” and is promising to triple annual housing construction.
She also recently attended a fundraiser with local YIMBY housing advocates, where a co-host promoted her “vision for a more livable + affordable Los Angeles.”
Barry Cassily, a Venice developer and housing activist, seized on the contrast between Raman’s politics and her multi-million home redevelopment, saying: “These socialists are hilarious.”
“It’s so perfect that Nithya Raman would think nothing of tearing down a one-story historic property to build herself a three-story McMansion,” Cassily said.
Cassily compared Raman’s hypocrisy to that of another DSA-backed candidate, Faizah Malik, who The Post revealed in June was renting a $2.5 million home in trendy Venice while campaigning for rent reform and housing affordability,.
“They don’t care about double standards,” Cassily told The Post. “It’s obvious.”
Susan Collins, a former member of the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council in Raman’s district, said Nithya Raman ”exemplifies the champagne socialist.”
Raman’s own financial disclosures show she has substantial investments and a significant household income.
The California Post reached out to Raman’s campaign for comment.
Her first candidate Form 700 disclosed between $100,001 and $1 million in Alphabet Inc. stock and between $10,001 and $100,000 in Comcast stock.
She also reported more than $100,000 in income from Time’s Up Now, where she served as executive director before joining the City Council, along with more than $100,000 in income attributed to her spouse.
