- Raman wants to end Bass’ Inside Safe program and use short-term rental vouchers she claims will be far less expensive and more effective.
uncertain
she → want → vouchers
From the time I met a guy playing a violin near Pershing Square in 2005, and followed him to the Skid Row slab of pavement where he spent his nights, I’ve listened closely to what mayors promised to do about homelessness in Los Angeles.
asserted
mayors → meet → Angeles
All of them were going to fix the problem.
asserted
All → go → problem
None of them came close.
asserted
None → come → them
Each of those mayors invested vast sums of money and manpower and each of them made inroads.
asserted
each → invest → inroads
To be fair, they collectively helped thousands of people turn their lives around.
asserted
thousands → help → lives
But the problem is not finite, the waves keep coming, and more than 40,000 people are currently homeless in the city.
asserted
people → come → city
That’s one of the primary reasons Mayor-elect Nithya Raman will get a chance to do what her predecessors could not.
uncertain
predecessors → ’ → chance
In the most recent year of accounting, homelessness increased slightly in the city but declined significantly in Raman’s council district.
asserted
homelessness → increase → district
So Bass is out, and Raman is in after a contentious campaign in which Raman attacked the Bass strategy (which she helped implement) as too costly and ineffective.
asserted
she → attack → which
“Here’s my promise,” Raman said in a video on her campaign website.
asserted
Raman → ’ → website
“When I’m mayor, we’ll cut tents and encampments in half by the Olympics, and bring everyone in tents and encampments indoors by the end of my first term.”
asserted
we → ’m → term
Bear with me, because I’m about to explain why I have some hope that Raman might do a better job on homelessness than her predecessors.
uncertain
Raman → bear → predecessors
But I cringe when I hear such grandiose proclamations.
asserted
I → cringe → proclamations
In 2006, I attended a Skid Row news conference where a gaggle of politicians including Villaraigosa touted a 10-year plan to end homelessness in L.A. County.
asserted
gaggle → attend → County
In 2013, Garcetti vowed to end chronic homelessness, and in 2018, he said: “We can cut this problem in half in five years.
asserted
We → vow → years
And in 10 years … we can end life on the street.”
asserted
we → end → street
From unexpected contestant to winning candidate, Raman’s next challenge is daunting: Fix City Hall.
asserted
challenge → win → Hall
In 2023, Bass told a CNN audience that by the end of her term as mayor: “My goal would be, really, to end street homelessness.
asserted
goal → tell → homelessness
There’ll still be people in shelters and interim housing, but to at least not have people dying on our streets.”
asserted
people → have → streets
Have you noticed how these kinds of amped-up promises have played out?
asserted
kinds → notice → promises
I don’t mean to discourage lofty goals, but we’ve been let down time after time, feeding cynicism.
asserted
we → mean → cynicism
We’re just looking for significant progress, not a miracle.
asserted
We → look → progress
It begins with an economy built for stark disparity, with the crippling cost of housing, and with untreated mental illness and drug addiction.
asserted
It → begin → illness
A mayor can’t magically clear the decks without help from federal, state and county allies, and from strong partnerships on the City Council.
asserted
mayor → clear → Council
But none of that excuses the paltry returns on big investments.
asserted
none → excuse → investments
Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program moved about 6,000 people into motels and other forms of interim housing as of this past spring at a cost of $300 million, and 41% of them had returned to homelessness by the end of May.
uncertain
% → move → May
Raman wants to mothball that program and use short-term rental vouchers she claims will be far less expensive and more effective.
uncertain
she → want → vouchers
She wants to open doors for City Controller Kenneth Mejia to audit every dollar spent on homelessness.
asserted
Mejia → want → homelessness
She says she’ll demand a full accounting of county services, use Medi-Cal funds for more street medicine teams, invest in shared housing and case management.
asserted
she → say → housing
“City Hall has put together a patchwork of programs, agencies, and dollars that were never required to prove they work together, or work at all,” Raman says on her homeless strategy page.
asserted
Raman → put → page
“No agency or program has been required to demonstrate results.
asserted
agency → require → results
No department or office has been put in charge of monitoring the spending.”
asserted
department → put → spending
Putting a plan on paper is one thing.
asserted
Putting → put → paper
Pushing it through the teeth of the City Hall grinder without the wholesale shredding of good intentions is a tougher trick.
asserted
Pushing → push → intentions
And it remains to be seen whether Raman can wrangle the support of council members who shunned her and unanimously endorsed Bass.
asserted
who → remain → Bass
But Raman has a few things going for her, including a penchant for defying expectations.
asserted
Raman → have → expectations
She blitzed two incumbents, first to win a council seat and then to bounce Bass.
asserted
She → blitz → Bass
That gave her a street-level study of the challenge as well as the disjointed government response, and she then led the City Council’s homeless committee.
asserted
she → give → committee
“I think that situational awareness” will serve her well, said Louis Abramson, a Hollywood resident and Rand researcher who serves as chair of the SELAH board.
asserted
who → think → board
…and 21 more, not listed.
The Aporia
