Nithya Raman was sworn in to her new job as a member of L.A. City Council today–and immediately got to work, announcing the first two motions she will be will be bringing before the body. The pair of motions both address issues related to housing and homelessness, concerns that were key to the progressive’s campaign.
“My goal as your council member is to approach problems from a systems perspective,” Raman stated in remarks following the swearing in. “To reimagine and strengthen systems of care. To make them more efficient and make them work for everyone, especially our most vulnerable. While our city’s fiscal situation may be dire, we can still do far more–for all Angelenos.”
L.A. County was all set to purchase its 10th vacant hotel and convert the property into housing for the homeless as part of California s new Project Homekey program, but there was one minor problem: the Studio 6 motel in Commerce wasn t vacant.
Earlier this month, after the motel owner kicked everyone out, dozens of occupants claimed they d been living in the motel for months or even years and were being forced into homelessness.
Several families believe they were illegally evicted and denied rights like relocation fees. Others say they were locked out of their rooms this month or that management didn t give them any notice about the sale.
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Raman, who bested incumbent David Ryu in last month’s election, also introduced a motion that asks the city to identify funding and possible sites for a homeless services center in her district. Such centers provide restrooms, showers and storage centers, according to Raman’s motion.
Raman and Ridley-Thomas took the oath of office Tuesday during a virtual City Council meeting.
Addressing her colleagues, Raman said that “economic forces” are pushing out families and “in particular, working families, so many Black and brown families.”
Ridley-Thomas, who represents a Koreatown-to-Crenshaw district, called homelessness the “moral crisis of our time” during his remarks and said that Angelenos cannot continue to “perish in these streets.”
Calculating the impact of HUD’s homeless formulas
It took a pandemic for the federal government to actually consider homeless people in determining how much homeless aid to give out. Without congressional action, a decadeslong formula problem remains.
By Howard Center for Investigative Journalism
Eric Smith will finally have a place to call home after years of sleeping in his car and on his aunt’s sofa because of an obscure change in how the federal government calculates homeless aid.
For decades, Washington has determined how much taxpayer money to give states, counties and cities for their homeless residents, using a formula that actually has nothing to do with homelessness. But the COVID-19 pandemic, and its billions in emergency aid, forced lawmakers to rework the old, politically popular homeless formula, which spread the wealth regardless of need.