Nithya Raman’s rotten record on homelessness

Homelessness remains a stubborn fixture in LA, despite billions poured into fixes. 

Councilwoman Nithya Raman has positioned herself as the visionary reformer ready to lead as mayor. 

Yet a closer look at the programs she promotes reveals a familiar story: grand announcements, hefty price tags and results that arrive at a glacial pace –– if they arrive at all.

A flagship example: the Time Limited Subsidy (TLS) program, which Raman has long championed as a smarter, cheaper alternative to expensive motel shelters. In practice, it has delivered little more than bureaucratic foot-dragging.

Launched with great fanfare as part of efforts to comply with court settlements on encampment clearances, the TLS initiative was designed to move people quickly into market-rate apartments with time-limited rent help and case management.

The City Council approved the investment in September, offered a redesigned version targeting 2,000 households in January, and rolled it out on March 1. 

By late last month only three apartments had been filled. Three.

The cost to taxpayers for this trickle of progress: $62.6 million. That works out to more than $20 million per household so far. One might call this deliberate; others would say it’s an expensive way to achieve almost nothing.

Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez didn’t mince words. “One household a month is not a solution,” she told reporters. “I would say they’re having issues with the program. It’s not working.”

Rodriguez pointed out the obvious irony: Raman’s much-criticized target, Mayor Karen Bass’s Inside Safe program, suddenly looked like a bargain by comparison. 

Inside Safe has cost roughly $391 million since 2022 and served nearly 6,000 people, despite its own flaws and high per-person motel tabs approaching $85,000 annually.

Raman loves to rail against that expense. Yet her preferred subsidy model, after years of advocacy, managed a pace that makes the “expensive” alternative seem downright efficient.

Taxpayers, of course, foot the bill for this theater.

While Raman touts TLS as a cost-effective path forward, the early returns suggest otherwise. The $62.6 million has bought minimal movement off the streets, leaving vulnerable Angelenos in limbo and neighborhoods frustrated.

This isn’t an isolated stumble. Under Raman’s committee watch, Project Homekey acquisitions (another massive housing push), have left over 1,000 units vacant or offline years after purchase, despite hundreds of millions spent.

Properties sit empty while maintenance and lease costs accrue, turning public investment into expensive real estate speculation with no visible benefit to the unhoused.

Then there’s the $4,011,357 state Encampment Resolution Fund grant Raman secured nearly two years ago for dangerous encampments along a 19-mile stretch of the Los Angeles River. 

The money was earmarked for outreach, housing placements, and clearing tents. 

As of late May 2026, it remained largely unspent. 

Raman’s office offered the predictable deflection: Administrative and contracting delays are “deeply frustrating.” One can almost hear the collective taxpayer sigh.

Securing grants makes for a solid press release; actually delivering results apparently requires superhuman effort beyond City Hall’s pay grade.

These delays and excuses form a pattern that should worry Angelenos considering Raman for mayor.

Raman’s council committee on homelessness has presided over periods where funding announcements outpace placements, vacancies pile up, and grants gather dust. 

Each stalled dollar represents lost opportunity: fewer people housed, more encampments lingering, and higher long-term societal expenses from untreated mental health, addiction, and public safety issues.

The human cost is tragic, and the financial one is staggering. Taxpayers have funneled enormous sums into homelessness –– billions overall –– yet visible progress lags.

Voters are exhausted with the status quo. 

Raman brims with rhetoric about efficiency and accountability, yet the TLS rollout, Homekey vacancies, and the unspent river grant suggest Raman the mayoral candidate is more comfortable critiquing others’ failures than overcoming her own.

The bottom line is clear. Promises are cheap. Taxpayer-funded failures are not.

Richie Greenberg is a political commentator based in San Francisco.

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