Long Beach is asking for residents’ feedback on the possibility of opening a temporary homeless shelter on Anaheim Street near the Los Angeles River.
Anyone who wants to weigh in can attend a community meeting at the Drake Park community center, 951 Maine Ave., on Thursday, April 13, at 6:30 p.m.
Many details about the proposed shelter, including when it might open and how long it would operate, remain unclear. But city officials have said they’re considering a building at 702 W. Anaheim St. to house 80 to 100 people.
The building, owned by the Long Beach Rescue Mission, used to be the nonprofit’s thrift store, but the property is now for sale after the store closed in December.
Shelter space in Long Beach has been consistently at or near capacity, and the city has been scrambling to find new locations before the end of April, which is when its winter shelter at Community Hospital is slated to close.
The proposed shelter on Anaheim could absorb the 80 or so residents at the winter shelter and potentially take in more people, who would be required to be screened at the city’s Multi-Service Center in West Long Beach before taking a shuttle to the facility.
The city originally planned to open an additional 84-bed shelter in a gym at Silverado Park, but that idea was met with intense backlash at a community meeting in February, forcing the city to cancel that plan.
Long Beach looks to open new homeless shelter at former Rescue Mission thrift store