Long Beach To Declare State Of Emergency On Homelessness

LONG BEACH, CA — As one of his first acts as the new Mayor of Long Beach, Rex Richardson announced the city would declare a state of emergency on homelessness at his inauguration Tuesday night.

Following in the footsteps of the city of Los Angeles, Richardson said it was time to take action to prioritize the safety of Long Beach's unhouse population and address concerns from small businesses and neighborhoods.

"The longer people live on the street, the more trust they lose in us, their city, their institution and society to be able to help them," Richardson said. "Just this year, 99 people died on our streets before we could get them housing. Responding with urgency matters."

Richardson said last year Long Beach recorded a 62 percent increase in homelessness while housing solutions in the city simultaneously grew by double that at 123 percent. So while the city has shown commitment, Richardson said, it is simply not enough.

During the new Mayor's meeting with President Joe Biden last week, Biden called for cities to go "all in" and work toward solving homelessness with bold and innovative policy solutions. Richardson said he would gladly answer that call and that would start with the launch of a new website that will serve as a resource for not only the unhoused community but everyone in Long Beach.

The website will show city data and services as well as let the community know how to get engaged in helping. It will also look toward the future and show challenges the city looks to overcome that it hasn't yet.

"I expect that our city will rise to this challenge through this declaration," Richardson said. "We'll bring a plan that addresses our shelter needs, safe parking plans [and] build the right teams and funding that we need to make a real difference."

Last week L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who was in attendance at the Long Beach inauguration, also signed an emergency declaration on homelessness as her first act as mayor and followed up on Friday with an executive directive expediting the approval and permitting process for fully affordable housing projects in Los Angeles.

Under the directive, city departments must conduct all reviews and issue approvals for 100% affordable housing projects within 60 days. Once construction starts, the utility permitting and certificate of occupancy process must be completed within five days for affordable housing units and two days for temporary housing.

Richardson said he looks forward to working with Bass to address the challenges the two cities share.

"Imagine a moment when two mayors of the two largest cities in the region are aligned on values, on working together to get our unhoused neighbors off the street," Richardson said. "We will turn this vision into reality with Mayor Karen Bass as our neighbor."

Though some cities resisted state direction to grow housing supply, Richardson said Long Beach was eager to take up the challenge and was one of the first cities in California to pass one of the first housing element plans.

To date there are more than 300 families with vouchers who are looking for landlords who will accept them, Richardson said. Though the homelessness crisis won't be solved during the six to nine-month declaration, the new mayor said long-term housing solutions are in the works.

"In the end, homelessness is linked to the lack of housing," Richardson said. "When housing costs become unaffordable, people can no longer afford rent. They're pushed out of their homes."

City News Service contributed to this report.