COUNCILMEMBER RAMAN INTRODUCES MOTION TO ESTABLISH CITY OVERSIGHT OF HOMELESSNESS RESPONSE

For Immediate Release: February 26, 2025

Los Angeles, CA – Today, Councilmember Nithya Raman introduced a motion to establish performance oversight of Los Angeles’s myriad homelessness investments in the City. Despite the City investing over $1 billion annually into its regional homelessness response, there is currently no entity within the City government tasked with monitoring the outcomes of this investment. Councilmember Raman’s legislation proposes creating a time-limited Bureau inside the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) that will convene staff from across city departments working on homelessness under one umbrella. The Bureau will be explicitly tasked with performance management to ensure the City of Los Angeles is spending every dollar put toward homelessness as effectively as possible to bring people indoors into safety.  

This motion builds on Councilmember Raman’s consistent efforts as the Chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee to improve data collection and data sharing with LAHSA and other entities involved in homelessness response across the city. This data – now available to the City for the first time – has shown that nearly 20% of shelter beds are vacant on any given night, and that vacancies in permanent supportive housing units are taking months to fill. 

The Council has been calling for greater oversight over homelessness spending in the City for years, including potentially creating a new department – work which could take years to negotiate and resource. This legislation seeks to immediately create a time-limited Bureau within LAHD that brings together city staff already working on homelessness that will be charged with monitoring the City’s programs, using regularly updated data to identify and address challenges in program implementation, make real improvements in its performance, and help more people experiencing homelessness get the care and support they need. 

“This is about accountability,” said Councilmember Raman. “But because so much of our investment in homelessness is subcontracted through LAHSA, accountability has been elusive. If we want to meaningfully care for people, we need to have the data and insights into our work.”

Councilmember Raman’s legislation instructs the CLA, along with the CAO and the Housing Department, to report back to Council within 30 days on the resources and staffing plan necessary to stand up a Bureau situated in the Housing Department.  

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