Nitya Raman won a seat on the Los Angeles City Council four years ago on a promise to ease the city's homelessness crisis.

The city councilman is currently running for re-election, pointing out that he is working to reduce the number of people living on the streets in the Silver Lake to Reseda district.

In her district, the “number of unsheltered homeless people” has decreased by 7% over two years, according to data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The term includes people living outdoors or in tents or cars.

City Councilman Kevin de Leon is also campaigning for re-election, sending out mailers noting the decrease in homelessness in his district.

In the past year, the number of unsheltered homeless people in his Northeast L.A. neighborhood has decreased by 7%, according to LAHSA's unofficial findings.

Mr. Raman and Mr. de Leon are not considered friends or political allies. But both are on the same page, running tough re-election campaigns while touting their districts' progress on homelessness.

Such messages could strengthen campaigns in cities where polls show homelessness is the biggest problem. Political consultant Brian Van Riper said voters will also evaluate the city's success by how they feel when walking through their neighborhoods and whether there are signs of homelessness.

“Voters vote on emotion and emotion as much as statistics and facts,” said Van Riper, who is not involved in the campaign.

Two factors make it difficult to track City Hall's progress on the crisis this election year.

Some City Council district boundaries have changed significantly following the city's 2021 redistricting process.

At the same time, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the city and county agency that oversees homelessness, did not release homeless numbers by city/city for 2023.

According to LAHSA, unsheltered homelessness in Los Angeles increased by 15% in 2023 compared to 2022. Since the 2015 count, the overall number of homeless people in the city has increased by 80%.

Jason WardAn economist at the Santa Monica-based nonprofit research institute Rand Corporation, he has been studying homelessness in Hollywood, Skid Row and Venice since 2021.

He said he suspects the number of encampments citywide has decreased given the various programs underway, including Mayor Karen Bass' Inside Safe program, which locks people into hotel and motel rooms. “That's probably reasonable.”

“Even in Skid Row, there is a population that is moderate and flat, rather than increasing,” he says.

On a windy morning in May 2023, two employees from Raman's office joined homeless workers to visit dilapidated tents lining the concrete levees of the Los Angeles River.

The group was there to introduce themselves as part of the process of persuading people to move to the shelter.

The program, launched with state and federal funding, is one way Raman's office has moved more than 500 people in the district into shelters, Raman's office said.

More than a dozen major encampments in Raman's district have been cleared, including the recreational vehicle path along Victory Boulevard in Reseda, his office said.

Raman's office hosts monthly community events for the unhoused, offering haircuts, showers, identification and access to shelter.

Alex Perez gets a haircut at the Will and Ariel Durant Branch Library in Hollywood in December. The service is part of monthly events in the Raman City Council area.

(Myung Jay Chun/Los Angeles Times)

Raman, who chairs the City Council's Homeless Task Force, said her team's efforts will allow the city to “actually address street homelessness, which is a concern for most Angelenos, much more effectively than we have in the past.” “This shows that it can be dealt with,” he said.

Former City Councilman Mike Bonin said many council offices have outreach teams, but Raman's staff serve as “housing navigators.”

“She has people who take the time to build relationships and understand what kind of housing people need,” Bonin said.

The unsheltered homeless population in Laman District decreased by 7% in 2022 compared to 2020 (LAHSA did not conduct a count in 2021 due to COVID-19) . At the same time, the protected population more than doubled during that period.

Raman's office attributes the increase in shelter population to the increase in beds provided by the district. People in motel rooms and other shelters are still considered homeless by the city.

LAHSA's 2022 numbers do not take into account the city's recent redistricting process that affected the Laman area. She lost about 40% of her voters as Hancock Park, Park La Brea and other districts were removed and Encino and Reseda were added to the district.

According to LAHSA's unofficial 2023 data after redistricting, unsheltered homelessness in the Laman area once again decreased by 7% compared to 2022 numbers. However, it is difficult to meaningfully compare these two years of her life, given that the boundaries of her district have changed dramatically.

The 2023 numbers are based on raw data collected by LAHSA and reviewed by The Times. According to the data, the district led by Raman and de Leon was one of six districts where the unsheltered homeless population decreased.

LAHSA did not release official city district-level data in 2023 due to concerns that the numbers were inaccurate, said LAHSA spokesman Ahmad Chapman.

Raman's challenger in Tuesday's primary is city deputy Atty. Ethan Weaver and software engineer Levon “Lev” Baronian are both offering voters different approaches to homelessness.

Both men said they would enforce City Ordinance 41.18, the city's anti-camping law, which allows police to regulate where people can sit and sleep, which Raman opposes.

Weaver also criticized Raman's response to encampments around Cahuenga Boulevard and the Los Feliz Bridge Home Shelter. Neighbors have complained about safety and sanitary conditions at both locations.

He also wants a gradual withdrawal from LAHSA. The agency is governed by a 10-member board and is “designed to fail,” he said. “If you talk to any of our council members, they'll tell you that you can't give direct orders to this bureaucracy.”

Raman opposed withdrawal from LAHSA, arguing that such a move would jeopardize federal funding meant to support the city's unhoused residents.

Since taking office in 2020, Mr. de Leon has opened three small home villages in Eagle Rock, Highland Park and Boyle Heights, converted two motels into temporary housing in El Sereno, and opened a new home in Boyle. In the Heights, we completed a 77-bed shelter for women and families.

His office says more than 2,000 beds have been installed in his district.

De Leon said he pursued housing options despite being subject to a recall, some of which was driven by opposition to the transitional homeless housing push.

City Councilman Kevin de Leon greets people waiting in line for food distribution outside his Eagle Rock office.

(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)

“I built [homeless] We have built different types of housing because there is housing everywhere in my district and there is no one solution to the crisis,” de Leon said in an interview.

Tommy Newman, vice president of public affairs for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, said Northeast Los Angeles has historically lacked shelter options, and de Leon's push to add more beds is a big reason. said, “I'm happy.''

On a recent morning, a City Council member toured an alley in an industrial area of ​​Boyle Heights where his office was seeking an influx of residents into housing.

Mr. de Leon and Los Angeles Police Department Senior Officer Johnny Altamirano described how thieves are hiring homeless people living in tents to strip copper wire.

The City Council member wants more resources in Los Angeles County to help fight drug addiction among homeless residents, saying thieves are paying people for meth, a cycle that leaves many homeless in the area. said he was “high on drugs.”

In his campaign email, de Leon said homelessness has decreased in District 14, which includes Skid Row and some or all of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights, Eagle Rock, El Sereno and Harmon. ing.

The unsheltered population in the district decreased by 7% last year compared to 2022, according to LAHSA's unofficial 2023 data.

De Leon spokesman Pete Brown said LAHSA provided numbers to the councilman's office showing a slight decrease in homelessness across the 14th District last year. LAHSA's Chapman said the data is inaccurate.

Several of the seven people challenging de Leon in the primary are pointing to LAHSA's 2022 data.

According to one of the candidates, Rep. Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles), unsheltered homelessness increased by 38% that year compared to 2020.

Kevin de Leon reflects on his speech notes before the opening of the Arroyo Seco Tiny Home Village on October 21, 2021.

(Irrfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)

“What the incumbent has been doing is clearly not enough,” Santiago said.

Another candidate, tenant rights attorney Isabel Jurado, is proposing community resource centers to provide hygiene, medical and social services to people without housing.

Times staff writers David Zahnizer and Doug Smith contributed to this report.