Nithya Raman

LAist's voter guide for the Los Angeles mayor race (published May 4, 2026, updated October 19, 2026). It profiles each candidate and quotes Nithya Raman's written answers to an LAist questionnaire on priorities, homelessness, Olympics costs, immigration enforcement and why she should be mayor.

• Raman named housing and homelessness, basic city services and safer communities as her top priorities.
• On homelessness she promised accountability tying every dollar to measurable results, a real-time public dashboard, performance-tied funding with underperforming contracts reformed or ended, and filling paid-for beds.
• On the Olympics she called the risk of cost overruns 'real' and called for enforceable agreements capping city liability.
• She described herself as author of LA's Sanctuary City Ordinance and pledged to oppose harmful federal immigration actions while engaging the administration where necessary.
• Her case cites the strongest tenant protections in city history, a 54% cut in encampments in her district, and votes against contracts she says drove a billion-dollar deficit.
• LAist notes she is in her second council term, ousted an incumbent in 2020, is an urban planner, and was elected with DSA backing.

Raman's campaign page on protecting renters, describing tenant protections passed during her council tenure and proposing an Office of Tenant Protections, court partnerships, an Office of Home-Sharing, and anti-corporatization measures.

• Credits Raman's leadership for universal Just Cause eviction protections, a minimum-arrears threshold for eviction, required eviction-notice filing, anti-harassment rules and Right to Counsel.
• Says Raman led the effort to lower allowable rent-stabilized increases for the first time in 40 years, from 3-8% to 1-4% annually, for over 1.5 million Angelenos.
• Says enforcement lags: of 21,402 tenant-harassment complaints (Aug 2021-Aug 2025), only 35 were referred to the City Attorney.
• Proposes an Office of Tenant Protections, data-sharing with LA Superior Court to support mediation and rent relief before trial, and an Office of Home-Sharing to curb illegal short-term rentals.
• Proposes Ellis Act reform, support for small landlords, and prohibiting private equity from systematically buying single-family homes.

A Raman campaign issue page (served at the campaign site's 'issues' address) on the Department of Water and Power. Despite the 'Ending homelessness' title recorded at discovery, the page's content concerns LADWP rates, transparency and infrastructure, and lays out her plan to audit and reform the utility.

• The campaign says LADWP bills rose over 40% under Mayor Bass and the average household pays almost $1,000 more per year.
• It says the Council has not passed a rate ordinance in over a decade and that increases were made through 'adjustment factors' now over two-thirds of rates.
• Plan: work with Controller Mejia and the Ratepayer Advocate on a full DWP audit, audit meter reading and billing, and explore rolling back executive pay.
• Plan: require DWP to justify rates before Council, offer monthly bills and payment flexibility, restore affordability programs struck down by a 2023 court order, deploy smart meters.
• Plan: plan for water availability in large fires, accelerate pipe replacement, reform service-connection rules hindering housing, and expand efficiency and demand-response programs.

Raman's campaign housing platform, 'Housing for All', which pledges to triple annual housing construction through permitting deadlines, rezoning, bureaucratic reform, unified affordable-housing financing and homeownership measures.

• Calls the housing crisis 'almost entirely self-made' by land-use policy and bureaucracy.
• Would issue an executive directive creating a permitting 'shot clock': 60 days for zoning-compliant projects and 120 for discretionary ones, plus coordinated intake, a single-inspector model and citywide self-certification.
• Would update the General Plan Framework to rezone high-opportunity corridors near transit for by-right housing, allow duplexes to fourplexes in single-family neighborhoods near transit, and create select high-rise zones built by union labor.
• Would create an independent board for land-use disputes, raise appeal fees for non-neighbors, and create an LADWP Housing Strike Force.
• Would launch a 'Super NOFA' bundling affordable-housing funds and build publicly owned, permanently affordable housing on city land.
• Would allow ADUs to be sold separately (opt in to AB 1033) and seek condo liability reform.

An undated Raman campaign housing and homelessness platform titled 'Who Belongs in LA?'. Its content describes Council District 4 under prior council leadership and refers to the Mayor's CARE program, so it reads as her earlier council-campaign platform. It calls for eliminating laws that criminalize homelessness, ending LAPD-involved encampment sweeps, a temporary rent freeze, right to counsel, and expanded affordable and 'first step' housing.

• Proposes Community Access Centers in every neighborhood with case managers, outreach and a small number of beds.
• Says 'we must stop criminalizing homelessness' and calls for removing municipal codes 56.11, 41.18 and 85.02, which it says criminalize having bulky belongings, sitting or sleeping on sidewalks, and sleeping in cars.
• Opposes encampment sweeps, supports the Services not Sweeps model, and encourages removing LAPD from cleanups entirely.
• Calls for a temporary zero-percent rent freeze, tying rent-controlled increases to real wages, right to counsel and expanded rental assistance including for undocumented residents.
• Calls for by-right 100% affordable housing approved within 90 days, legalizing shared-facility 'first step housing', and a public fund to acquire affordable properties.

ABC7 report on the October 13, 2026 NBC4/Telemundo 52 debate, with direct quotes from Councilmember Nithya Raman on the city's direction, Inside Safe, her committee role, a campaign video calling officials 'fascist liars', emergency leadership and the LAPD chief.

• Raman opened by arguing homelessness is rising despite heavy spending, storefronts are closing, and the mayor has been 'MIA'.
• Raman said colleagues made her chair of a powerful committee before she pushed back against a failing system, and accused Bass of personal insults.
• Asked about a supporter's video her campaign took down that called LAPD, Chief McDonnell and Bass 'fascist liars', Raman called it an error and said she would never imply they are fascist.
• Raman promised to be 'on the front lines' in the next emergency.
• ABC7 says Raman did not give a clear answer on whether she would fire Chief McDonnell before the 2028 Olympics.

LAist's three takeaways from the October 13, 2026 hour-long televised debate, covering homelessness, policing and emergency response, with quotes from Councilmember Raman.

• Raman criticized Inside Safe as expensive, unaccountable, unaudited and unchanged since launch.
• Raman said every homelessness dollar should be monitored and every service's performance tracked.
• Raman confirmed she wants to replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, saying he lost Angelenos' trust especially over the response to federal immigration raids, but gave no timeline relative to the 2028 Olympics.
• Raman said she is 'very skeptical' of mass surveillance technologies such as license-plate readers and wants proof data would not be shared with ICE.
• Raman called the Palisades Fire and Lineage warehouse fire responses a 'failure' of leadership and promised resources, evacuation support and multilingual information.

LAist report on the September 29, 2026 Jewish Federation of Los Angeles mayoral forum, where Raman defended her use of 'genocide' to describe Israel's actions in Gaza, called BDS a legitimate form of peaceful protest, and discussed appearing with streamer Hasan Piker.

• Raman said she used the term genocide because other experts had used it and because of images of hospitals targeted and children killed.
• Raman called BDS 'a legitimate form of peaceful protest', drawing boos from some attendees, and said she supports the right to protest whether or not she agrees with protesters.
• Raman said she disagreed with some of Hasan Piker's views but that officials should speak to audiences they disagree with.
• Raman said she has criticized antisemitism and was the first LA elected official to denounce the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
• LAist notes Raman is a DSA member and DSA supports boycott and divestment of Israel.

City News Service report (on NBC Los Angeles) on the September 29, 2026 Jewish Federation mayoral forum, focused on Raman defending her interview with Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, in which she said she believes Israel committed genocide, and her views on antisemitism and safety.

• In the Piker interview Raman said 'I do, yes' when asked if Israel committed genocide, and also said Israel has a right to exist.
• Raman co-authored a 2024 council resolution calling for a ceasefire that never came to a vote.
• Raman said she is running to be mayor of the city and that LA must be a place where people can be 'visibly Jewish and not feel unsafe.'
• Raman said she never wants progressive politics conflated with antisemitism.
• Raman said she would evaluate appearances on controversial platforms case by case, apply the same principles to any host, and hoped to 'do a better job of that in the future.'

ABC7 interview with Raman before the June primary, covering her case for a 'different path', the 2023 LAPD contract and budget deficit, responsibility for homelessness as committee chair, Inside Safe's cost, and Spencer Pratt.

• Raman said voters need not pick 'our broken status quo' or 'a MAGA Republican.'
• She said the 2023 LAPD contract the mayor signed gave the union more than the city had, causing the billion-dollar deficit, fewer officers and longer 911 times.
• Asked about her own responsibility as chair, she said the city lacks oversight of homelessness spending and that the oversight bureau she established had not been staffed.
• She said she supports Inside Safe but it is too expensive to be sustainable.
• She said she shares Pratt's frustration but he is 'not a serious candidate', and accused Bass of boosting Pratt.

Edited transcript of Larry Mantle's April 20, 2026 AirTalk interview with Councilmember Nithya Raman before a live audience at Loyola Marymount University. Raman explains her late entry, critiques Mayor Bass's proposed budget and the city's finances, discusses labor contracts, Measure ULA, rent stabilization, Inside Safe and alternatives, involuntary treatment and camping enforcement, the next LAPD chief, and city service delivery.

• Raman said her frustrations deepened over the lack of fire preparation and the Palisades response and a 'lack of urgency' in the mayor's office, and that she does not plan to be a long-term politician.
• She said last year's billion-dollar deficit was largely self-created by unaffordable contracts and poor fiscal management, and called a slight service increase a 'hollow improvement'; she said her own budget might not differ much but she would be 'much more honest.'
• She said she has almost no organized labor support, believes in unions, and has pushed back on allies, citing her call to exempt new multifamily construction from Measure ULA, which she still supports as revenue.
• She supports the rent stabilization ordinance and said any expansion should exempt new construction for 15 or 20 years.
• She said she believes in encampment resolution and did it before Bass was elected, but that Inside Safe motel rooms cost over $80,000 a year and time-limited subsidies can house two or three households for the same cost; she cited only about 4% of shelter residents getting county mental health services and backs Medi-Cal-reimbursed street medicine teams.
• She supports conservatorship for a small number of very sick people and enforcement of no-camping rules in places like parks and high fire-risk zones, but said regulation must be combined with shelter and services.
• She said the next LAPD chief needs 'courage' and criticized Chief McDonnell's responses to protests, federal mutual-aid requests and the state mask ban; asked whether LAPD collaborates with ICE, she said 'I don't think so' but said even the appearance is frightening.
• She said the city lacks a robust multi-year capital infrastructure plan and needs department metrics to hold leaders accountable and reward good workers.

ABC7 interview with Raman shortly after her last-minute February 2026 entry into the mayor's race, on why she is running, how she differs from Bass on homelessness, and her relationship with DSA.

• Raman said she could no longer tell constituents 'I can't fix your streetlight for a year' and had hit her limits as a councilmember.
• She said she has 'deep admiration' for Bass and they share many values (per ABC7).
• She cited her district's record of clearing large encampments and moving people indoors, and called the city's system expensive and lacking accountability and metrics.
• She said she has voted against groups that endorsed her, including DSA, and described herself as an outsider running against the political machine.
• ABC7 notes Bass said she was 'flabbergasted' and that Raman's council term runs through 2028.

Only the introduction of a February 2020 Jacobin interview with Raman during her first council race is available; the interview itself is paywalled.

• Jacobin describes Raman as an urban planner who stepped down as executive director of Time's Up Entertainment to run in the March 3, 2020 CD4 primary.
• Jacobin says she ran on a homes guarantee, a just transition, immigration reform and a more democratic council, with endorsements from Sunrise Movement LA, Ground Game and DSA-LA, of which she is a member.

Council File 26-0088 document: letters from the Measure ULA Citizen Oversight Committee (ULA-COC) responding to a January 27, 2026 City Council motion to amend Measure ULA, including proposed commercial/multifamily exemptions. The document does not name the motion's author.

• On January 28, 2026 the COC voted 8-0 to send a letter to Council about the proposed ULA amendments and seated a Policy Amendment Review ad hoc committee.
• The February 6, 2026 letter says the motion appears not to have considered the COC's role under Ordinance Section 22.618.8(b) to review amendments.
• It says that if the COC finds amendments inconsistent with the measure's purposes, Council must adopt written findings supported by substantial evidence to proceed.
• It says it will review City Attorney ballot language on the Section 21.9.2 commercial/multifamily exemptions, and notes technical fixes may not require a ballot measure.
• Raman (CD4) is listed among the councilmembers copied.

NBC Los Angeles fact-checks claims from the October 13, 2026 NBC4/Telemundo 52 debate. For Councilmember Nithya Raman, it examines her claim of a nearly 50% drop in unsheltered homelessness in her Council District 4, her criticism of Inside Safe's cost, and her assertion that the LAPD has reportedly shared data with ICE.

• Raman cited a nearly 50% decline in unsheltered homelessness in CD4; LAHSA data show 181 (2025) to 93 (2026), about 49%.
• NBC notes the citywide trend went the other way in 2026 (total +3.4%, unsheltered +7.9%) and that district comparisons need consistent figures; CD1 had 777 unsheltered in 2025 and 989 in 2026.
• Raman's criticism of Inside Safe's cost: NBC cites more than $300 million total (LA Times) and $131.9 million projected for FY 2025-26.
• On Raman's claim that LAPD was 'reportedly sharing data with ICE', NBC says state law generally restricts sharing license-plate-reader data for immigration enforcement, but concerns exist about private vendors such as Flock; the ACLU has accused Flock of allowing federal access.

Spectrum News 1 (City News Service) report that Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, a Bass ally, planned to split the Housing and Homelessness Committee and remove Raman as chair, with Raman's statement and the Bass campaign's response.

• Raman has chaired the committee since 2023; the committee would be split into separate housing and homelessness committees, neither led by her (per LA Times sources).
• Raman's statement credits her tenure with Just Cause eviction protections, lower rent-stabilized increases and a homelessness-spending oversight office.
• Raman said her district cut street homelessness 'by nearly 50% in one year' and called homelessness 'not an unsolveable problem. It's a mismanaged one.'
• The 2026 count showed citywide homelessness up 3.4% to 45,194, the first increase after two years of declines.
• The Bass campaign said Raman takes credit for Inside Safe results while campaigning against it; Raman told the Times there were only three Inside Safe operations in her district.

FOX 11 report on Raman's first runoff press conference after finishing second in the June 2026 primary, where she criticized Bass, appealed to Spencer Pratt's voters, and outlined pledges on film jobs, LAPD staffing and homelessness.

• Raman argued two-thirds of primary voters voted against the incumbent and questioned whether the party system picks the right leaders.
• She said Pratt 'tapped into very real frustrations' about a city failing at basic functions.
• She pledged film and TV tax credits, maintaining LAPD staffing levels, and ending street homelessness (per FOX 11).
• She acknowledged her DSA alignment and pointed skeptics to her council record.
• FOX 11 notes most of her council colleagues, including progressives, endorsed Bass.

LA Public Press profile of Raman's campaign before the June primary, reviewing her record on tenant protections, homelessness enforcement, Measure ULA and policing, with views from supporters, critics, the police union and analysts.

• UCLA's Zev Yaroslavsky says Raman struggles to depict an authentic evolution and must balance change messaging with moderating positions.
• As housing chair Raman helped pass 2023 just-cause eviction expansions and led the update of the Rent Stabilization Ordinance.
• Former councilmember Mike Bonin says Raman helped shift the city from criminalization toward housing and shelter.
• Researcher Kathryn Leifheit says Raman designated fewer 41.18 zones than other members; her district ranked eighth in sweeps, about two arrests per 100 unhoused people; Raman said 'We do clean ups in our district.'
• Raman broke with progressives by seeking to exempt certain multifamily developers from Measure ULA, angering some supporters.
• The Police Protective League, which endorsed Bass, called her public-safety position inconsistent; she now says LAPD's size must be maintained.
• Raman was one of two members to vote against the $2.6 billion Convention Center expansion over concerns about service funding; DSA-LA recommended but did not endorse her.

Westside Current report on the April 14, 2026 City Council vote, 11-4, designating 220 Rose Avenue in Venice as a LAMC 41.18 no-camping zone, with Raman among the four 'no' votes, and statements from Raman, Councilwoman Traci Park and Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez.

• Raman pulled the item from a larger package for a separate vote and opposed it, joining councilmembers aligned with the DSA bloc.
• Raman said this part of 41.18 duplicates existing camping laws and 'at best succeeds in moving homelessness around a neighborhood.'
• Park, who introduced the resolution, cited assaults, thefts and other crimes at the site.
• Rodriguez said Raman's votes on 41.18 are 'inconsistent' and 'seemingly motivated by election cycles.'
• The site was the last unposted stretch of Rose Avenue after earlier Inside Safe operations.

LAist report on Raman's April 2026 homelessness platform, which would prepare the city to move contracts away from LAHSA and scale back Inside Safe in favor of lower-cost interventions, with responses from the Bass campaign and comparison to her 2020 platform.

• Raman said 'no one is in charge at City Hall' on homelessness and only the mayor's office can fix fragmentation.
• She called Inside Safe 'the most expensive temporary housing intervention in the city by far', about $85,000 per motel room a year, and said the same money could fund three Time Limited Subsidy apartments (about $24,000 per household per the CAO).
• LAist reports Inside Safe beds average over $225 a night vs about $86 for other interim housing (CAO), the city spent more than $300 million and moved more than 5,800 people indoors, and 40% later returned to the street.
• LAist notes Raman voted with the council 13-1 for Bass's 2023-24 budget including $250 million for Inside Safe.
• Her 2020 council platform called for eliminating policies that criminalize unhoused people, including LAPD-led sweeps; her 2026 platform calls for 'maintaining' capacity for encampment resolution.
• She would build city capacity for direct contracting away from LAHSA, which her platform calls 'plagued with scandal'; Bass warned against withdrawing 'too quickly.'
• She proposes Medi-Cal-funded street medicine teams, a citywide unarmed crisis team, and a clearer strategy for 6,500 people living in vehicles.