South Los Angeles

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and City Councilmember Nithya Raman, her challenger in the mayoral race, appeared separately at a South L.A. candidate forum, agreeing that the city's homelessness response needs an overhaul but diverging sharply on housing policy. Both candidates said the city should exit the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which has faced repeated audits over poor accounting despite spending nearly $830 million last fiscal year, and back a new city-run agency, mirroring a move the county already made. Both also support expanding unarmed crisis-response teams for non-emergency calls currently handled by police.

The candidates split on housing density and renter protections. Raman accused Bass of blocking denser development in wealthier neighborhoods, pushing new construction into poorer districts, and criticized Bass's temporary loosening of short-term rental rules ahead of the 2028 Olympics, warning it could displace long-term tenants. Bass defended development restrictions as necessary to prevent gentrification of Black and Latino communities. The two also differed on LAPD's handling of ICE-related protests and enforcement of a state law on federal agents masking during operations.