Halving L.A.'s Street Homelessness by 2028 Will Take More Than Promises: What the Record Shows

Los Angeles Mayor-elect Nithya Raman, a democratic socialist who takes office in December, has pledged to cut the city's homeless encampments in half before the 2028 Olympics, Fox News reported ^[1]. LAist described the goal as reducing street homelessness by 50 percent in time for the Games, with long-term encampments eliminated by the end of her first term ^[2].

That is a goal every Angeleno should want to see met. Compassion for people sleeping on sidewalks and respect for the families, churches and small businesses that share those sidewalks point in the same direction. But a promise is not a plan, and Los Angeles has heard big promises before. The record shows how hard this will be and what it will take.

What Raman is proposing

Raman's platform would scale back Inside Safe, Mayor Karen Bass's signature program that clears tent and vehicle encampments and moves people into shelter, mostly hotel rooms, LAist reported ^[3]. She has called it the city's most expensive temporary housing option, estimating its cost at about $85,000 per motel room each year, and wants to shift money toward lower-cost tools such as short-term rental vouchers and shared housing ^[3]. She also wants more street medicine teams, paid for through Medi-Cal reimbursements, to meet health needs inside encampments ^[3]. The Bass campaign called her plan's reliance on private landlords unrealistic ^[3].

Experts who spoke with LAist called halving street homelessness in about a year and a half a stretch, while saying a significant reduction by 2028 would still count as a victory ^[2]. LAist also noted that local officials still have no plan for how they will address encampments ahead of the Olympics or where people will go ^[2].

Not everyone is hopeful. John Alle, co-founder of the Santa Monica Coalition, told Fox News he is "not optimistic" the plan will bring meaningful change, arguing it differs little from Bass's approach ^[1]. He warned that people could be moved off the streets before the Games only to return once the crowds leave ^[1].

What the record shows

The starting point is sobering. The 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count estimated 45,194 people experiencing homelessness in the city of Los Angeles, up from 43,695 a year earlier, a 3.4 percent rise that ended two years of declines ^[4]. Unsheltered homelessness in the city, meaning people living on streets, in tents, in vehicles or in makeshift shelters, rose 7.9 percent to 29,115 ^[4]. Countywide, the total climbed 1.2 percent to 73,040 ^[4]. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said neither increase was statistically significant and pointed to a funding-driven pause in time-limited rental subsidies, which officials said meant more than 5,000 fewer people moved into permanent housing ^[4].

That matters for Raman's approach. The rental-subsidy tool she wants to lean on is the same one whose funding ran short this year.

Money has not been the only thing missing; accountability has been, too. A court-ordered audit by Alvarez & Marsal, commissioned by U.S. District Judge David O. Carter and released in March 2025, said gaps and incomplete data kept it from gauging the results of roughly $2.3 billion in city-related homelessness spending, KTLA reported ^[5]. Auditors found that LAHSA often approved payments to contractors before confirming that services were actually delivered ^[5]. Voters who have approved tax after tax for this cause deserve to know what their money bought before being asked to trust a new strategy.

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What works, and what comes next

Cities now have a tool they lacked for years. In June 2024, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson that enforcing general laws against camping on public property does not violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment, reversing a Ninth Circuit decision that had blocked such penalties when shelter was lacking ^[6]. Justice Neil Gorsuch, writing for the majority, noted that the ruling still leaves each city free to decide how, or whether, to use that authority ^[6].

That freedom puts the choice squarely on City Hall. The lesson of the last decade is that shelter, treatment and housing work best alongside clear rules that are consistently enforced. Services without standards can leave tents in place for years, while enforcement without beds and treatment only moves people from one block to the next. Raman's plan puts heavy weight on the service side; how she uses the authority the high court affirmed will say a great deal about whether the 2028 goal is reachable.

Raman will have roughly a year and a half after taking office to deliver before the Games ^[2]. Her first budget, her stance on enforcement, and whether the subsidy money she is counting on actually materializes will be the early tests. Advocates like Alle, business owners, and residents who have watched encampments grow on their own streets will be measuring results, not rhetoric ^[1].

The true measure of success will not be a cleared sidewalk on opening day. It will be whether people are off the streets and on a path to recovery, and whether they stay there after the cameras are gone.