J. Stephens

UPDATE: Nithya Raman remains the frontrunner to be LA’s next Mayor with a 55% chance

If it were walkable and managed properly, Southern California would be the best place on earth.

Here’s how we’ll eliminate encampments citywide: 1. Treatment: Immediately deploy street medicine teams citywide. These are clinicians who bring physical, mental, and behavioral health care directly to where people are living — and in my plan, the same clinical team stays with a person from the street to shelter, and from shelter into permanent housing. That continuity builds trust. And trust is what actually gets people indoors and keeps them there. Because 60% of treatment costs are covered by Medi-Cal, this is one of the most cost-effective interventions we have — just $200 per person per month after reimbursement. 2. Shelter: we will restructure how we use our existing motel resources. Right now people are staying in Inside Safe motels for over a year on average. Motel rooms should work like emergency rooms — stabilize people quickly and move them to the next step. Under my plan, people will receive 120 days of intensive stabilization — case management, mental health treatment, document preparation — and then move directly into housing. That means every motel room can serve three times as many people a year as it does today at half the cost per person. 3. Housing: Dramatically expand Time Limited Subsidies — a proven short-term rental voucher program. Under Inside Safe, the city spends an average of $82,420 per participant to fund a year in a motel room — yet less than a third of participants transition to permanent housing. Under Nithya's plan, for around the same cost per participant, people receive 2.25 years of housing and intensive services, with 75% sustaining permanent housing. 4. Accountability: We will also provide rapid response to new encampments — if you report a new tent, someone will be there within 48 hours. And we will publish a real-time public dashboard so every Angeleno can see exactly where their money is going and whether it is working. No more hiding the numbers. No more managing the optics. Just results and accountability. And if something isn’t working, we’ll learn and adjust.

Nithya Raman has unlocked another $149k in public matching funds.

LA's proposed SB 79 standards have dropped... For 1/2 mile from a T2 transit stop, they allow 10 units with 2 FAR, with max height of 2 stories. It's physically impossible to fit 2 FAR in 2 stories. In fact, with setbacks, it's impossible to fit 2 FAR in 3 stories!

Clifton’s shutting down is absolutely heartbreaking 💔. It was so magical. Whats happening to Los Angeles?! 😭