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Nick Gerda
What I cover
I’m a reporter focusing on government accountability in Southern California, including around the homelessness crisis. I try to find answers to questions like: Why does it often seem like there’s so little progress around homelessness? What can be done to make systems more effective? And how are people in charge of these systems using their authority?
My background
I grew up in L.A. and Orange County and previously covered the county government in Orange County for more than a decade — often reporting on issues like homelessness, public safety, mental health and the role of money in politics. At LAist, my reporting on corruption spurred a criminal investigation that led one of Orange County’s most powerful officials to resign, plead guilty and get sentenced to years in prison for a scheme that diverted millions in food money from needy seniors. For that work, in 2025, I was honored to be named journalist of the year for California, SoCal and Orange County and to receive the national Dan Rather Medal for News and Guts.
My goals
I want my coverage to inform the public and inspire positive change by identifying areas for improvement in the ways leaders are exercising power.
Best way to reach me
Email: ngerda@laist.com. Signal: @ngerda.47
Stories by Nick Gerda
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Hundreds of tiny homes must be added by the spring, Carter ruled. Among the places he’s looking at is UCLA’s baseball stadium.
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The winner of District 1 will join a five-member board that oversees a county of about 3 million residents with an annual budget of about $9 billion.
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How did a 22-year-old law student afford a $1 million home at the center of civil fraud allegations?The home is owned by O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do, who is among four individuals named as defendants in Orange County’s civil lawsuit alleging embezzlement of millions in public funds. LAist investigated the purchase.
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The proposed ethics and transparency reforms are in response to LAist’s investigation of millions of unaccounted for tax dollars directed by O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do to a group his daughter was helping lead.
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Judge David O. Carter orders 2,550 more homes in L.A. and says "it’s no surprise" that veterans don't trust the VA.
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The audit, obtained by LAist through a public records request, looked at the county's Be Well campus in the city of Orange. The director of the O.C.’s Health Care Agency tells LAist the county will terminate the contract.
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Board members were informed that Do “will likely miss a number of meetings in the future."
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Also on Monday, Don Wagner, who chairs the board, said he was scheduling a vote to remove Do from his committee assignments.
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The remarks made on a Vietnamese radio broadcast are Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do’s first known public response after O.C. officials filed a lawsuit alleging millions of taxpayer dollars were misspent.
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Federal agents on Thursday searched the family home of O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do and his wife — O.C. Superior Court Assistant Presiding Judge Cheri Pham — as well as a home owned by their daughter Rhiannon Do.
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The county says a Huntington Beach nonprofit that received $1 million in funding for a war memorial failed to finish the taxpayer funded project. Here’s what we found when we went out to the site.
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The lawsuit alleges that county money meant to feed vulnerable residents was illegally diverted by O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do’s daughter and others to purchase five homes.
