{"id":387,"date":"2022-11-04T15:58:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T23:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/investigations\/homelessness\/newsom-homeless-funding-freeze-grant-step-up"},"modified":"2023-04-25T15:00:28","modified_gmt":"2023-04-25T22:00:28","slug":"newsom-homeless-funding-freeze-grant-step-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/investigations\/news\/newsom-homeless-funding-freeze-grant-step-up","title":{"rendered":"In Long Beach, $8.5M in homeless funding withheld as governor demands cities ‘step up’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The governor\u2019s surprise announcement<\/a> Thursday to delay grant funding to address homelessness will hold up $8.5 million intended to help house people in Long Beach, according to state figures<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gov. Gavin Newsom said \u201chomeless action plans\u201d submitted by cities and continuum of care agencies that provide social services were not sufficient to tackle the problem of homelessness\u2014an issue voters consistently say<\/a> is most important to them.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeliver damn results,\u201d the governor said in a pointed interview with the LA Times<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s a crisis. Act like it. Everybody step up.\u201d<\/p>\n

He offered a direct challenge to mayors: \u201cYou want me to come in? I\u2019ll do the job. I\u2019ll do it. Happily.\u201d<\/p>\n

While many mayors across the state have pushed back on the governor\u2019s rhetoric<\/a>\u2014many of them fellow Democrats\u2014political leaders in Long Beach said they agree with Newsom.<\/p>\n

“I support the governor in trying to come up with a stronger way to address this,” said Mayor Robert Garcia, who has been in office for eight years and is running for Congress in Tuesday’s election.<\/p>\n

Long Beach has received roughly $85 million over the last two years from federal and state coffers to address homelessness, yet the number of unhoused individuals has risen by 62%, according to the latest point-in-time count.<\/p>\n

Asked what the city could be doing better, the mayor cited building housing, “having more direct contact with people,” addressing mental health, and continuing to adapt and reuse motels for temporary and permanent housing.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Rex Richardson, who has been on the City Council for eight years and is running to replace Garcia in Tuesday\u2019s election, said he agrees with the governor: \u201cWe\u2019re spending a whole lot of money, and clearly we need to do more. (Voters) want to see a bigger return on their investment, and we\u2019re going to have to set more aggressive targets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Councilmember Suzie Price, also a candidate for mayor who has been on the council for eight years, said the city’s approach isn’t working. “I don\u2019t think the standards should be, ‘We\u2019re doing our best.’ We need some performance metrics.”<\/p>\n

But city employees said the goals Long Beach set in its application for state money are, in fact, aggressive.<\/p>\n

According to a copy of the application reviewed by the Post, one of Long Beach’s goals was to reduce its unsheltered population by 0%, or in other words, stop it from growing beyond the 2020 level of 1,582.<\/p>\n

In his criticism of cities, Newsom said it was unacceptable that all their plans combined would only reduce homeless statewide by 2%. But Paul Duncan, head of the city’s Homeless Services Bureau, called this analysis flawed: “They’re using pre-pandemic, 2020 numbers to establish a baseline.”<\/p>\n

Between 2020 and 2022, Long Beach’s unsheltered population increased dramatically to 2,287, so getting it back to the 2020 numbers is a “lofty goal” that would include getting 705 people off the streets in two years, Duncan said.<\/p>\n

Here’s a general breakdown of how the city planned to use the $8.5 million grant, which it applied for six months ago:<\/p>\n