The building that normally houses Long Beach’s main intake hub for homelessness programs will be closed for at least the next two months after repairs to its roofing and ventilation systems revealed excess water damage to the building.
Crews are working to repair the damage at the Multi-Service Center, but in the meantime, homeless services staff will operate out of the next-door lot. Workers on Thursday were seen setting up lines of chairs under a large festival tent. Two quonset-style tents were set up weeks ago, with tables, printers and indoor lighting, where workers handle intakes and begin triaging people’s needs.
Seated west of the Los Angeles River in a removed lot near the 710 Freeway, the Multi-Service Center is usually the spear tip of the city’s efforts to end homelessness.
It offers a number of services like employment placement, counseling, child care and showers. There’s office and outdoor lot space for other agencies, including veterans, drug or alcohol abuse treatment and job referral organizations.
As a result of the closure, the facility cannot offer showers or childcare. Workers are shuttling people in need of showers to either the Long Beach Rescue Mission or a center in San Pedro, and to other facilities for childcare. The switch also removes the privacy that only a brick-and-mortar facility, with plenty of meeting rooms, can provide.
Likely due to the closure, staff say they’re seeing about 80 people a day — about half as many as usual. According to city data, the center saw 3,875 visits per month, most of them repeat visitors.
The city originally thought the center would be closed only for two weeks to replace the roof and ventilation. But upon work’s start, crews discovered the building had suffered water damage from a recent storm that ruined some carpeting and walls.
Four weeks later, work is still underway. Paul Duncan, the director of the city’s homeless bureau, said this will have to be the new normal for at least the next two months. “We were hoping to get back in the building a little quicker than we are right now,” he said.
The facility, built in 1999, underwent extensive renovations in 2014, including the addition of windows and expansion of its medical clinic and lobby. Further renovations brought new showers in 2021 and a new childcare area in 2025.
The latest fixes were originally proposed in the city’s infrastructure plan, meant to start in spring 2025, but the water damage has complicated that plan.
The project was originally expected to cost $2.2 million but is now budgeted up to $3.4 million.
If you or someone you know is in need of assistance, you can still get help outside the Multi-Service Center at 1301 W. 12th St. You can also call them at 562-570-4500 or visit the city’s website for homelessness and housing resources here.