LOCKED OUT
Homelessness in Long Beach
There has never been a time when more public money is being invested in trying to get people off the streets. Yet the number of unhoused individuals in Long Beach rose by a startling 62% in the last two years. Why has it been so hard to get people into permanent housing?
1 converted hotel, 14 deaths: Why workers raised alarms on this homeless housing program
Before pulling out, the nonprofit running one of Long Beach’s transitional housing facilities warned the city about inadequate staffing, lagging payments and unsanitary conditions.
111 people who died homeless in Long Beach this year honored at memorial
Nobody, one speaker said, wants “to die alone, on a sidewalk, or in the back of an ambulance — anonymous, forgotten, unwashed, unwanted.”
Libraries face challenging new chapter in coping with needs of unhoused patrons
City officials are moving to strengthen conduct rules to help protect the safety of librarians while keeping the doors open to everyone.
Aging and unhoused: Long Beach sees spike in older adults without stable housing
“This is supposed to be the golden years, you know, retirement,” one 70-year-old woman said. “They weren’t very golden.”
As money flowed in, numbers rose over the last two years
There are 3,296 homeless individuals in the city, an increase of 62%.
The number of people living in encampments or on the street rose 22%.
The number of people living in a vehicle rose by 380%.
The number of Homeless Services Bureau staff increased from 25 to 80.
The city’s budget for homeless services went from $10 million to nearly $80 million.
Long Beach has received $81 million in recovery act funds to prevent homelessness.
About this project
“Locked Out: Homelessness in Long Beach” is an ongoing project by the Long Beach Post. The series will explore this critical issue through in-depth reporting, interactive graphics, videos, photos—and most importantly through the experiences of people in our city.
If you have a news tip, or would like to see a particular issue explored, please email Executive Editor Melissa Evans at [email protected].
PODCAST
Jeff Levine of the LB Rescue Mission: Addressing homelessness means handling childhood trauma
NOVEMBER 15, 2022. | 26:29 | S3:E3