Meet Nithya
Nithya Raman is an urban planner, a graduate of Harvard and MIT, a working mother, an immigrant to America, and a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing District 4.
After serving several years as the Co-Chair of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council Homelessness Committee, as well as co-founding the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, Nithya felt there was a gap between city services and the expanding homelessness crisis – a gap she was equipped to fill.
She ran for City Council in 2020 and won a historic victory, becoming the first Asian-American woman and the first South Asian ever to serve on the City Council. In March 2024, she was decisively elected to a second term.
Since taking office, Councilmember Raman has prioritized delivering compassionate and effective services for people experiencing homelessness, building more affordable housing, and moving with greater urgency to meet our city’s climate goals.
She has built a dedicated team that takes a proactive approach to constituent services, ensuring her office both responds to incoming requests and goes out in the field to meet people where they are, informing them about renter protections, neighborhood upgrades, community initiatives, fire safety, and more.
Councilmember Raman serves as Chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, Vice Chair of the the Rules, Elections, and Intergovernmental Relations Committee, and member of the Planning and Land Use Management (PLUM) Committee, Energy and Environment Committee, and the newly formed Ad Hoc Committee on Unarmed Crisis Prevention, Intervention, and Community Services.
Councilmember Raman also represents Los Angeles on the Governing Board of the South Coast Air Quality Management District and serves on the Board of the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency (LACAHSA). In 2024, she was nominated by Mayor Karen Bass to serve as Vice Chair on the LA County Executive Committee for Regional Homeless Alignment.
Nithya lives in Silver Lake with her husband Vali Chandrasekaran and young twins Karna and Kaveri.