Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman has promised to dramatically reduce street homelessness, replace expensive temporary housing programs and demand greater accountability for how the city spends public money.
But as she prepares to take office in December, she faces a challenge that has frustrated three previous mayors: moving thousands of people off the streets and helping them remain permanently housed.
More than 45,000 people were counted as experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles in 2026, despite years of substantial public spending and repeated promises of progress.
In a November 7 column in the Los Angeles Times, Steve Lopez examined the obstacles facing Raman and the long history of ambitious homelessness commitments made by Los Angeles mayors.
His central concern is one that many residents share. Changing administrations and announcing new programs may generate optimism, but the results have repeatedly fallen short of expectations.
For Raman, the question is whether a different approach to spending, services and permanent housing can finally produce lasting improvements.
Previous Mayors Made Similar Promises
Antonio Villaraigosa, Eric Garcetti and Karen Bass all entered office promising major progress against homelessness.
Each administration launched initiatives, committed public resources and helped thousands of people find housing or services.
But none came close to ending homelessness.
During Villaraigosa's administration, officials promoted a long-term plan to address the crisis. Garcetti later set ambitious goals for reducing chronic homelessness and street encampments.
Bass made homelessness the centerpiece of her administration, launching Inside Safe to move people from encampments into temporary hotel, motel and shelter accommodations.
The program has brought thousands of people indoors, but Los Angeles still has one of the largest unhoused populations in the country.
Raman has made similarly ambitious commitments.
She wants to reduce street encampments by half before the 2028 Olympics and bring everyone living in tents and encampments indoors by the end of her first four-year term.
Those goals may help establish priorities, but achieving them will require overcoming problems that extend beyond the authority of any single mayor.
Inside Safe's Costs and Results Will Be an Early Test
One of Raman's most immediate decisions will concern the future of Inside Safe.
The program was designed to provide an alternative to simply clearing encampments and relocating the people living in them.
Instead, outreach teams offer temporary indoor accommodations, generally in hotels or motels, while participants work with service providers toward permanent housing.
By early November 2026, the city had spent more than $391 million on Inside Safe, according to reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
Approximately 6,500 people had been brought into interim housing through the program.
But LAHSA data also showed that roughly 42% of participants had returned to homelessness.
Those figures highlight the difference between moving someone indoors temporarily and helping that person remain housed.
Inside Safe supporters argue that immediate shelter is valuable even when a participant doesn't ultimately obtain permanent housing. Bringing someone indoors can reduce exposure to dangerous weather, provide access to sanitation and connect them with medical care and other services.
Critics, including Raman, question whether the program's costs are sustainable given the number of participants who return to homelessness.
Both concerns matter.
Temporary shelter can provide immediate safety, but the longer people remain in expensive interim accommodations, the more difficult it becomes to stretch limited funding across the population needing help.
The program's long-term results will be a major factor in determining what Raman changes after taking office.
Could Rental Subsidies Work Better Than Motels?
Raman wants to place greater emphasis on short-term rental assistance, shared housing and coordinated services.
Her proposal would reduce reliance on costly motel placements and help qualifying individuals move more quickly into conventional rental housing.
In principle, rental subsidies could allow public funding to support more households than extended hotel stays.
They could also give residents greater stability by placing them in ordinary housing rather than accommodations intended to be temporary.
But making that approach work presents practical challenges.
Los Angeles has a severe shortage of affordable rental homes. Someone receiving a subsidy still needs to find a suitable apartment, complete an application and secure a lease.
Landlords and property managers may also have program requirements to satisfy before payments can begin.
For people with limited income, rental debt, poor credit or other barriers, securing housing may take considerable time.
A short-term subsidy is also not enough for everyone.
Some people experiencing homelessness need ongoing assistance because of disabilities, serious medical conditions or other circumstances that limit their ability to earn enough to cover rent independently.
Raman's proposed changes will therefore need to account for different levels of assistance rather than assuming that one housing program can meet everyone's needs.
Los Angeles Has Also Struggled to Spend Its Homelessness Budget
Another challenge involves the city's ability to use the funding it has already allocated.
In March 2026, City Controller Kenneth Mejia reported that Los Angeles had left at least $473 million in homelessness funding unspent and uncommitted during fiscal year 2024–25.
The city's adjusted homelessness budget for that year totaled approximately $1.1 billion.
According to the controller, about $516 million was spent and another $119 million committed, leaving substantial funds that had not yet been used.
Much of the unspent money came from special funds that can carry forward into future years. Delays in contracting, program approvals, staffing and affordable housing development also contributed to the discrepancy.
The finding doesn't mean that the entire unspent amount could have been immediately distributed as rental assistance.
Different funding sources have restrictions, and some projects require several years before expenditures can occur.
Still, the report raised questions about whether the city's fragmented administrative structure was preventing available resources from being used efficiently.
Raman has promised to give Mejia's office greater access to homelessness programs and allow more detailed examinations of spending and performance.
Better financial oversight could identify delays and ineffective practices.
But audits alone cannot produce additional affordable apartments or guarantee that funding will reach people more quickly.
The administration will also need a workable system for translating financial findings into operational changes.
The Mayor Doesn't Control Every Homelessness Service
One of the most complicated aspects of homelessness policy in Los Angeles is that responsibility is divided among multiple levels of government.
The city funds housing initiatives, sanitation work, outreach and other services.
Los Angeles County oversees major public health, mental health, substance use treatment and social service systems.
Regional organizations and nonprofit providers operate additional programs, often using a combination of city, county, state and federal funding.
That arrangement can make coordination difficult.
Someone experiencing homelessness may need help obtaining identification, receiving medical treatment, enrolling in benefits, finding a suitable rental and maintaining ongoing support.
Those services may involve several agencies with different eligibility rules, budgets and administrative procedures.
Raman can influence the city's priorities, but she cannot independently direct county health agencies or every service provider working in Los Angeles.
Changes to city contracts, homelessness spending and housing programs may also require City Council approval.
That presents a political challenge. During the mayoral campaign, every other sitting City Council member endorsed Bass.
The election result does not necessarily mean council members will oppose Raman's agenda. But it does mean the new mayor will have to build working relationships with officials who supported her opponent.
Raman's Council District Offers Encouraging Results, but Not a Citywide Blueprint
Raman has pointed to her record in Council District 4 as evidence that a different homelessness strategy can produce better outcomes.
According to figures released in July, unsheltered homelessness in her district fell approximately 49% from the previous year.
During the same period, the City of Los Angeles experienced an estimated 7.9% increase in unsheltered homelessness.
Raman credited her district's outreach teams, regular engagement with unhoused residents and efforts to connect people with available shelter beds.
She has emphasized the importance of knowing individuals' circumstances and maintaining relationships rather than relying solely on periodic encampment clearances.
Bass' campaign offered a different interpretation, arguing that Inside Safe and other citywide programs also contributed to the district's improvement.
The disagreement illustrates a limitation of using a single district's results to predict what will happen across Los Angeles.
A reduction in the number of people counted outdoors is encouraging, but it doesn't necessarily establish which programs caused the change.
Nor does it show whether the same approach would be equally effective in neighborhoods with different housing conditions, service needs and unhoused populations.
Raman's challenge will be to identify which elements of her district's approach can work citywide and how to measure their lasting impact.
Why Permanent Housing Matters More Than a Temporary Placement
One of the clearest lessons from Los Angeles' homelessness efforts is that getting someone indoors is only the beginning.
A person may enter a motel, receive case management and begin working toward stability, but still struggle to obtain permanent housing.
That person may need assistance replacing identification documents, accessing medical care, resolving financial problems or applying for benefits.
Others need treatment and continuing support over longer periods.
Even after moving into an apartment, a resident may require help maintaining income, paying rent and managing other responsibilities.
These needs can make permanent housing placements more complicated than simply identifying an empty unit.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority identified a slowdown in placements through Time-Limited Subsidy programs as an important factor in the region's stalled progress during 2026.
If fewer people can move from shelters into permanent homes, existing shelter beds remain occupied and fewer spaces become available for people currently living outside.
That makes the effectiveness of permanent housing programs central to any effort to reduce street homelessness.
Raman's proposed expansion of outreach and street medicine teams may help residents access care, but those services will need to connect with actual housing opportunities.
Without enough affordable homes, improvements in outreach alone may not be sufficient.
What Will Count as Success Under the Next Mayor?
Raman will take office facing high expectations and limited time before the 2028 Olympics.
The approaching Games create additional pressure to improve public spaces and address encampments throughout Los Angeles.
But a reduction in visible tents is not necessarily the same as a reduction in homelessness.
Residents moved from one neighborhood to another remain unhoused. People placed in temporary accommodations may still face uncertainty about their longer-term housing.
A more meaningful evaluation would examine how many people enter permanent housing, how many remain housed, how long temporary placements last and how much different programs cost.
It would also consider whether the city is preventing people from becoming homeless in the first place.
Eviction prevention, rental assistance and affordable housing preservation can help households avoid losing their homes, potentially reducing the number of people entering the homelessness system.
For Raman, the challenge is not simply creating a new program or replacing an unpopular one.
It is establishing a coordinated approach that helps people move from homelessness into stable housing while preventing others from losing their homes.
Los Angeles has heard ambitious promises before.
The new mayor's success will ultimately be measured by whether the results are different.
Sources
Original November 7 commentary: Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times, November 7, 2026. L.A. Mayors Have Long Promised to End Homelessness. Can Raman Break the Cycle of Failure?.
Additional reporting: Los Angeles Times, November 3, 2026. L.A.'s Next Mayor Faces Big Challenges.
Official financial analysis: Los Angeles City Controller, March 23, 2026. Fiscal Year 2025 Unspent Homelessness Funds.
Official homelessness statistics: Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, July 24, 2026. 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Data.
Local district results: Los Angeles Times, July 24, 2026. Street Homelessness Went Up in Los Angeles. In Raman's District, It Was Nearly Cut in Half.
Program and policy background: LAist, April 8, 2026. Raman's Proposed Changes to Homelessness Programs.
This article reports on public policy proposals, published financial information and previously reported findings. ProTenant.org did not independently interview the officials or individuals mentioned.
