Overview
- City leaders announced Monday that the City Council will divide the Housing and Homelessness Committee into separate housing and homelessness panels and that Councilmember Nithya Raman will not lead either new committee.
- Raman said her removal is political retaliation for challenging Mayor Karen Bass and for demanding audits of costly programs, and she accused the mayor’s allies of blocking a controller review of the Inside Safe initiative.
- Harris‑Dawson and other council members rejected the retaliation claim and said the split is meant to make the council more functional and to respond to federal and local questions about program oversight.
- The action comes as the 2026 count showed a citywide rise in homelessness and as LAHSA faces federal scrutiny and audits, and city records show a $62.6 million Time‑Limited Subsidy tied to Raman had placed just three households by late June.
- The council is expected to hold a vote on the restructuring later this week and the dispute could reshape who sets homelessness policy and influences oversight in the run‑up to the November mayoral runoff.