L.A. Can Turn Around Its Homeless Crisis: TV Writer and Advocate Hayes Davenport Breaks Down How Voters Can Help

variety.com:

William Earl administrator Hayes Davenport is a comedy writer with an enviable resume, having worked on shows like “Eastbound & Down,” “Family Guy,” “Vice Principals” and “Dickinson.” Yet he left that career behind for a three-year run working at City Hall, with a special focus on helping Los Angeles’ homeless population.

It’s a journey he first started by supporting the campaign of Nithya Raman, who became a Los Angeles City Council member for the 4th District in 2020. “It was Nithya laying out a path for me to go out and talk to people, something I wouldn’t have felt like I could just do on my own,” he says. “From gradually seeing opportunities to actually help people get off the street … once you’ve done it a few times, you just can’t not do it.

It activates and empowers you in a way that very few jobs can.” Davenport first met Raman in 2017 while volunteering with the homeless outreach non-profit SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition.

When she announced her intention to run for the council seat in 2019, Davenport quit his job co-showrunning the comedy series “Chad” with star Nasim Pedrad to focus on the campaign. “When Nithya said she had decided to run for the seat, knowing the outsized importance that the city council has in L.A., in particular to the issues we were dealing with and homelessness, I just thought it was an opportunity I couldn’t miss,” he says. “I couldn’t just watch her do this and not be involved.