Raman’s District Wins While City Loses | Bakersfield News

Councilmember Nithya Raman is touting a nearly 50% drop in street homelessness in her district as evidence her hands-on strategy works — even as citywide numbers show an 8% rise in street homelessness and a 3.4% uptick in overall homelessness. Running against Mayor Karen Bass, Raman credits her team’s personal connections with unhoused individuals and aggressive shelter placement, while Bass’s campaign counters that Raman is unfairly taking credit for the mayor’s “Inside Safe” program — which Raman herself has criticized. Raman insists her district’s success is due to local execution, not the mayor’s initiatives, and argues that while council can pass laws, the mayor controls implementation. Bass blames state and federal funding cuts and inadequate county mental health services for the citywide increases, standing by her commitment to ending street homelessness. Listen in comfort:Get a discount on a Soli Pillow: http://solipillow.com/discount/dnn. Advertise on DNN:[email protected] This is an automated, high-level news summary based on public reporting.Report issues to [email protected]. View sources & latest updates:https://sources.thednn.ai/c732db635e85f93c