Voters and politicians alike have made addressing the expanding homeless population in Long Beach a top priority. Despite the city receiving $85 million in state and federal funding over the past two years, Long Beach has still seen a 62% increase in the homeless population since 2020.
Even in the face of those bleak statistics, there are nonprofits trying to reduce homelessness and address the root cause on a daily basis.
One nonprofit is the Long Beach Rescue Mission. The Christian organization provides food, shelter, education and more meant to guide people into long-term housing.
Today we speak with its chaplain and executive director, Jeff Levine, who talks about seeing homelessness as an issue of humanity, not just a problem to be solved.
On this episode of The Word podcast, Levine discusses how childhood trauma increases the risk of homelessness and how he hopes to address that in the future.
Levine stresses that being or becoming a Christian is not a requirement to receive help from the Long Beach Rescue Mission.
If you or someone you know needs assistance, you can call the Rescue Mission at (562) 591-1292. If you want to donate you can visit them online at LBRM.org. For the audio-only version of the podcast click here.
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