Rise in LA homelessness sparks feud between mayoral candidates

LOS ANGELES (KESQ) - Mayor Karen Bass and her challenger in the Nov. 3 election, Councilmember Nithya Raman, traded jabs today as they criticized one another over the increase in homelessness in Los Angeles.   

Homelessness increased by 3.4% in the city to an estimated 45,194 people, and unsheltered homelessness also rose by nearly 8%, according to figures from the 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. The data showed the first increase in the unhoused population following two consecutive years of decreases.

Raman, who represents the Fourth Council District, held a news conference in Studio City to discuss the results of the count released Friday afternoon.  

"By now you've probably seen the reports: despite hundreds of millions of dollars spent -- and repeated assurances that Los Angeles had turned a corner -- unsheltered homelessness increased by nearly 8% in this city,'' Raman said in a statement.

"That is a moral outrage. And it is a failure of leadership,'' Raman added.

The councilwoman noted her district experienced a 49% decrease in unsheltered homelessness.  

"We track every case, break through the barriers holding up placements, connect people with housing and care, and stay involved until they are housed,'' Raman said in her statement.  

Raman said, if elected, she would bring that approach and results citywide.    She added homelessness is "not an unsolveable problem. It's a mismanged one.''

In response, Bass' campaign said Raman claimed credit for the decrease in her district while avoiding the rest of the city's data as chair of the City Council's Homelessness and Housing Committee.

Bass' campaign said Inside Safe brought 236 people in the Fourth Council District into interim housing since 2023. It further alleged Raman has not attended a single Inside Safe operation in her district last year.   

The homeless count further showed that the Fourth Council District had a reduction of recreational vehicles used as housing for people experiencing homelessness from 103 in 2023 to 38 in 2026, a 63% decline.   

Bass' campaign said the removal of RVs takes towing, storage and relocation operations that the city's homelessness teams run.   

"Nithya Raman is taking credit for the results of Inside Safe while campaigning against it,'' Alex Stack, a spokesman for Bass' campaign, said in a statement.

"While Raman takes credit for the city's work in her district, ignoring the fact that she's the chair of the Homelessness & Housing Committee for all of Los Angeles, Mayor Bass is working to move our city forward and address years of neglect,'' Stack added.

Bass served on the LAHSA Commission for a three-year term that ended June 30. The commission consists of 10 appointed members -- five representatives from the city and five from the county.  

Commission members hold authority over budgetary, funding, planning and program policies.  

Bass, who is seeking a second term, continues to campaign on what she has deemed as progress in her first term -- part of that includes her administration's ability in moving unhoused people into temporary housing.   

The 2026 Homeless Count represents an opening for Raman, who is attempting to garner voter support with a new approach to address homelessness.   

Raman has criticized Bass' Inside Safe program for being too costly, and failing to produce better results.   

While Bass has defended Inside Safe, her signature program for encampment resolution, a Los Angeles Times analysis found that in the nearly four years since the program began, about 41% of unhoused people who participated in the program had returned to homelessness.

In a statement Thursday, Bass blamed the Trump administration for the increase in homelessness, saying its policies have driven up the cost of living and while reducing federal funding for safety net programs. She noted that reductions in state funding for homelessness have also impacted the city's ability to respond to the crisis.   

The mayor also criticized Los Angeles County for a "lack of adequate services,'' which she said was a contributing factor to people cycling in and out of homelessness. The county provides cities with services such as mental health and substance-abuse counseling.

Bass noted the city has reduced unsheltered homelessness by 11% since 2023, and housing more than 1,000 homeless veterans.   

Recently, critics have expressed frustration with Bass over the slow clean up of rotting food left by the Lineage Logistics cold-storage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, as well as concerns raised over a crisis communications consultant who worked for Bass' office for free, among other issues.

Meanwhile, Republican Party of Los Angeles County Chair Roxanne Hoge told City News Service in an email that the rise in homelessness was caused by existing leadership.  

"Every parent knows that you get more of behavior you reward. Karen Bass, Nithya Raman, Lindsey Horvath and the entire Homeless Industrial Complex comprised of NGOs and the California Democrat Party reward everything from criminal vagrancy, drug addiction, untreated mental illness and the takeover of public spaces. The results we see are the results they want,'' Hoge said in a statement, referring to Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and nongovernmental organizations.