Nithya Raman signs $6.6 million for strategic actions for a fair economy
A powerful committee headed by socialist Los Angeles Mayor Nithya Raman voted to hand over $6.6 million to an extremist activist group that had previously sued the city.
The Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homeless Committee has greenlit more than $177 million in homeless spending contracts — including a new multimillion-dollar payday for Strategic Actions for a Just Economy, known as SAJE.
They want to abolish the LAPD, cancel the 2028 Olympics and freeze rent.
The $6.6 million in funding awarded to SAJE comes despite the group filing a lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles over approvals for a luxury hotel project on public land, leading to closed settlement talks in 2023.
The vote also comes after the California Post revealed a similar agenda by the Democratic Socialists of America, who support Raman, and want to seize private property, take control of local supermarkets and close prisons.
SAJE will use the funds to fund outreach and education on “Tenant Harassment Protection” under the city’s Right to Counsel program and the voter-approved United to House LA Homelessness Prevention Initiative.
Money to fund the payments comes largely from a voter-approved “mansion tax” on property sales worth more than $5 million. Supporters claim the money will unleash billions in building affordable housing and preventing homelessness.
However, instead of cranes in the sky building new units, Lots of revenue So far it has gone to administrative overhead such as bureaucratic staffing, hiring consultants, and paying attorneys’ fees to challenge the tax.
The group has A long history of headline-grabbing activismincluding urging a boycott of the city’s hotels and supporting rent and mortgage freezes during the pandemic.
The California Post previously revealed that SAJE has already received at least $1.43 million in public funds since 2020 through several housing and utility contracts.
Those funds included money generated through the city’s systematic code enforcement program — a fee paid by landlords and tenants that operates outside the general fund and comes with limited public accountability for how dollars are spent.
Small housing providers have expressed anger at the arrangement. “There were times I honestly didn’t know if I could keep the doors open,” Venice landlord Craig Ribeiro previously told The Post. “Then you realize you’re paying money to groups that are fighting people like me — and that’s infuriating.”
SAJE objects to the misuse of public money. A spokesperson for the organization said that the organization tracks expenditures by funding source and does not use restricted funds for prohibited advocacy. City rules allow nonprofits to enter into contracts while engaging in policy advocacy, and SAJE is exempt from the city’s lobbying law disclosure requirements.
The SAJE contract now heads to the City Council for a final vote.
Raman, who chairs the powerful Housing and Homelessness Committee, controls which housing contracts go forward and when. As a candidate for mayor, housing policy is at the heart of her political platform.
