A Democrat running to be the next mayor of Los Angeles is facing backlash after she publicly condemned a staged homeless encampment outside her $2 million home.
Nithya Raman, a member of the Los Angeles City Council, has previously defended the existence of homeless camps near schools, parks and neighborhoods.
She sat down with comedian Adam Conover on his podcast to discuss the tight race between her, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass and Republican Spencer Pratt when she brought up the Memorial Day protest outside her Silver Lake-area property.
Footage from the event, obtained by the California Post, showed homeless people climbing out of tents, staging an open-air barbecue and walking around the neighborhood as residents recorded the scene.
‘So I woke up this morning to a sound of commotion outside my window and I looked out the window, and I realized that there were people setting up what was, I think, a fake encampment, like a homeless encampment outside of my house,’ she told the host, known for the comedy show Adam Ruins Everything, on Wednesday.
‘I have two little kids. They didn’t see it, luckily, this morning,’ Raman continued. ‘But you know, I feel bad that I’m even subjecting them to that at all.’
She then added that ‘this has gone far beyond what I expected the campaign to be about,’ explaining that she thought she would focus on issues like ‘bike lanes and transportation.’
The clip was quickly shared on social media, including by her rival Pratt, with many noting that Raman has repeatedly opposed expanding the city’s anti-camping law, which restricts the homeless from pitching up near schools, daycare centers, parks and libraries.
Nithya Raman, a Democrat running to be the next mayor of LA, is facing backlash after she expressed her concerns about a staged homeless encampment protest
The protesters pitched up outside her $2 million Silver Lake-area home
‘When it’s her own kids, Nithya Raman suddenly cares where homeless encampments are set up,’ one X user wrote. ‘But when it’s your own kids near schools and parks? She votes to keep the tents there.’
‘So it’s fine for homeless encampments to be around other people’s children, just not her own,’ another netizen pointed out. ‘What a cretin.’
A third X user declared that Raman’s reaction was a ‘slap in the face’ to residents who live near homeless encampments every day, while a fourth said their children see homeless camps ‘EVERY DAY on our way to school!!!’
‘But I was told kids were safe with homeless tents right outside,’ read an additional comment.
Pratt also shared the video, spliced with a clip from a 2024 Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association debate at which Raman was loudly booed for dismissing concerns about homeless encampments near children’s facilities.
‘I don’t think a kid’s gonna be safer if they are 10 feet or 500 feet away from a school,’ she told the crowd at the time.
Raman has repeatedly opposed expanding the city’s anti-camping law – which restricts homeless encampments near schools, daycare centers, parks and libraries
Others hit out at Raman for saying she thought the race would be about ‘bike lanes and transportation’ – two issues that polling consistently shows rank far below homelessness, crime and public safety among voter concerns in Los Angeles, according to the Post.
‘That’s all how these liberals like her think,’ one X user mocked.
‘She wants to be in government and focus on stuff like bike lanes and pet causes, and has no concern for actual governance. It’s always bike lanes, not preventing the city from burning down.’
Los Angeles has the second-largest homeless population among cities in the US, but the problem is particularly visible because around two-thirds of the unhoused population lives on the streets.
New York City, by comparison, has a total homeless population around twice as high as LA, but only around 4 percent of them are without shelter due to a decades-old NYC law that mandates shelter be provided to any homeless individual who applies.
Many online pointed out Raman’s hypocrisy, while others condemned her for saying she thought the mayoral race would be about issues like transportation
The backlash over Raman’s remarks comes as it was revealed that the LA City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, which Raman heads, received a $4 million grant from the state to clean up a sprawling encampment by the LA River.
The encampment is home to roughly 90 people living in tents and makeshift shelters who battle with addiction and cycle in and out of prisons and public housing programs.
One person was found dead in a tent there just last month.
But even though Raman’s campaign website says ‘desensitization to homelessness is a moral failing and a stain on any leadership that would call itself progressive,’ the public funds she received to help homeless people at the LA River have languished.
The encampment has been around for years. Some of its residents told the California Post they have been living by the river for decades.
Los Angeles has the second-largest homeless population among cities in the US. The problem is particularly visible because around two-thirds of the unhoused live on the streets
The LA City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, which Raman heads, received a $4 million grant from the state to clean up a sprawling encampment by the LA River
In the city’s petition for state funds, officials pledged that LA Family Housing would conduct daily outreach to the people living on the banks of the LA River.
The proposal stated its goal was to serve 90 people in the encampment by moving 75 of them into interim housing before transitioning all 90 into permanent accommodations.
But residents said city officials have taken no action to relocate the homeless people living at the camp since the city received the funds.
A spokesman for Raman now claims that the $4 million grant has been ‘caught in administrative and contracting processes.’
Her representative noted that Raman ‘has consistently treated homelessness as the urgent crisis it is’ and called the bureaucratic holdup ‘deeply frustrating.’
The money will begin going towards tackling the LA River encampment by the end of the month, they added.
‘The Encampment Resolution Fund is intended to support rapid outreach and housing interventions, not sit idle while City departments work through bureaucracy,’ the spokesman said.
‘We remain focused on making sure this funding translates into real outreach, real housing placements, and visible progress for both unhoused Angelenos and the surrounding community.’
The Daily Mail has reached out to Raman’s campaign for comment.
