LOS ANGELES — If you’re looking to change the way Los Angeles handles its homeless crisis, Mike Rose says the City Council is a good place to start.

He lives near the border of two separate districts and is part of an effort to shake things up at City Hall.

“It’s not ‘vote blue no matter who,’ it’s ‘blue versus blue, and there are different shades of blue,’” said Rose, who is a member of the LA chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America.

The group helped another DSA-LA member, Council member Nithya Raman, who become the first challenger to unseat an incumbent in 17 years in 2020. A huge shift in voter turnout by moving local elections from odd to even years fueled Raman’s upset victory over incumbent Democrat David Ryu.

Five times as many voters cast ballots in the 2020 race for Council District 4 than did in the previous election in 2015.

“I was excited because Nithya was not taking any corporate PAC money, refusing fossil fuel money and real estate money,” Rose said.

Two years later, Rose has been redistricted into Council District 13 and is helping to oust a Democrat incumbent once again.

The homelessness crisis became a flashpoint in District13 last year, when Councilman Mitch O’Farrell lead an operation to fence off Echo Park Lake to remove a large encampment. Police arrested nearly 200 protesters and about a dozen journalists the night of the park’s closure for repairs.

The controversial event is fueling political backlash, with four challengers hoping to unseat him in the June 7 primary. His opponents include police abolitionist Albert Corado, homeless policy adviser Kate Pynoos, Unite Here Local 11 organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez and LA County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Steve Johnson.

The DSA-LA has endorsed Soto-Martinez, who says council members have the power to bring national, progressive ideas like the Green New Deal to LA.

“When you see a lack of bike and pedestrian infrastructure, that’s your council member. When you see the homeless population explode and encampments, and no one’s addressing it, that’s your city council member,” Soto-Martinez said. “Your city council member has a ton of power over how your daily life is affected.”

Spectrum News requested an interview with O’Farrell’s campaign but never heard back.

Progressive voter Justine Gonzalez supports O’Farrell and worked with him on transgender issues at City Hall.

“Having seen his work for almost 10 years, I know what motivates him and how he engages in the work,” Gonzalez said.

Gonzalez, who uses the pronouns they/them, supported the operation to clear Echo Park Lake and ban camping after they no longer felt safe bringing their daughter to play. Gonzalez’ mother had also stopped using the park to exercise.

“It’s sort of snowballed over a two-year period,” Gonzalez said of the encampment. “I think homelessness and unhoused neighbors have been a part of this neighborhood, and a part of Los Angeles, well before I lived here. It was never an issue that I don’t want to see unhoused neighbors. I don’t think that’s possible, but it definitely got to the point where I was not comfortable being at the park with my daughter anymore.”

In their view, Democrats agree that housing solves homelessness but divided over how to handle encampments until more affordable housing comes online.

“At a certain point, there’s a level of desperation of, ‘How the hell do I get something done here?’” Gonzalez said.

Rose said it’s not enough to change one council seat. It will take a coalition to get policies passed at City Hall.

“Your city council member has an extreme amount of authority and power about what happens in your actual neighborhood,” Rose said.

One thing is clear: Incumbents can no longer take reelection for granted, and to Rose, that’s already change for the better.