Long Beach officials are considering whether they could follow the lead of some other cities that have started operating sanctioned tent communities as part of their response to homelessness.
Cities like Denver; Eugene, Oregon; and Tampa, Florida have turned to outdoor shelters—sometimes called “safe sleep” sites—as an alternative to a more costly traditional homeless shelter.
The sleep sites can be a cheaper alternative to get homeless people out of an unruly encampment and into “a safe, managed, staffed site that has resources,” said Cuica Montoya of the nonprofit Colorado Village Collaborative, which runs a safe sleep site for the city of Denver.
Montoya explained the concept to Long Beach’s homeless services advisory committee last month. In November, the committee expects to hear from a Eugene nonprofit provider about its operations.
Committee chairperson Julie Lie said there are no obvious technical barriers to creating a safe camping facility in Long Beach. The question, she said, is “if we have the resources and the political will to do it.”
With Long Beach short on shelter space, Councilmember Mary Zendejas has asked for a report on whether such a model would work locally.
What are ‘safe sleep’ sites?
They’re called by various names—“safe sleep,” safe outdoor spaces, licensed or sanctioned tent villages—but the concept of most is the same: a fenced-off lot of identical well-kept tents, typically with on-site security and a code of conduct for residents, plus amenities such as daily meals, laundry, and an array of services like housing help and job training.
While they don’t solve every challenge of serving the unhoused, they have some advantages over group emergency shelters and motel rooms as temporary housing, proponents say.
Managed tent sites can accommodate people with disabilities, and private tents may be more attractive to people who turn down congregate shelters where they can’t stay with a partner or keep belongings or pets.
Ongoing costs to operate safe sleep sites are comparable to running a brick-and-mortar shelter, but startup expenses can be somewhat lower.
It’s the difference between costs to buy tents and build bases or platforms to keep them off the dirt (plus leasing costs if the site isn’t city-owned); versus purchasing and revamping a building or constructing one from scratch.
A site that nonprofit Catholic Charities runs for the city of Tampa has both tents and small cottages. John Bennett, chief of staff for the mayor and the city, said the all-in costs for a cottage run about $15,000, while a tent, platform and related amenities come to about $500 each.
A temporary tent community can also get up and running faster than a permanent shelter. After a months-long site search, Colorado Village Collaborative brought its first Denver locations online in a matter of weeks. And Lie said that on a visit to Culver City’s recently opened safe sleep site, she learned it took about eight months from City Council approval of the project to opening the gates.
Meanwhile, Long Beach has fallen behind on several planned facilities for unhoused people. Plans to convert the Luxury Inn to homeless housing are months behind schedule, and a project to build 33 tiny homes next to the Multi-Service Center on the Westside is delayed for an unknown amount of time while the city looks for a new site.
Still some hurdles
Safe sleep projects are not without their challenges. Montoya from the Colorado Village Collaborative and Bennett from the city of Tampa both stressed that finding a location and doing early outreach to build support are key to creating a successful facility.
They suggest sharing information with business and community groups around the proposed site and getting feedback.
“The reason that it’s important that you include key stakeholders is it’s gonna be bumpy in the beginning,” Bennett said.
Montoya said before launching a site, the collaborative invites stakeholders to a community meeting. While planning the first Denver site in 2020, their first virtual meeting drew about 250 people, many of them angry.
By the time the site had been open for six months, only about six regulars were attending the monthly meetings, Montoya said. Today, the Colorado nonprofit has operated sites in seven different neighborhoods.
“I really do think that while some have had a bad experience, that the overall (experiences) have been, this is better than what’s out there on the streets at encampments,” Montoya said.
In Long Beach, Lie said, communication with residents would be especially important, but she also hopes city leaders would look somewhere other than the Westside if they want to create a safe sleep site.
The city’s Multi-Service Center, its hub for homeless services, is already on the Westside, and a new homeless shelter is planned nearby.
Zendejas agreed that the city’s provision of homeless services has been “heavy on District 1 and the Westside, but I think that we’re also very proud of having done our part.”
Lie said after hearing from the Oregon nonprofit next month, she’s hoping the commission will discuss what they’ve learned and consider making a recommendation to the City Council.
Zendejas is awaiting a presentation at a future council meeting on how a safe outdoor space might work in Long Beach. “For me, it’s all just about being able to explore any and all possibilities that could help us,” she said.
As for the Tampa and Denver projects, they’ve moved toward expansion, with the ultimate goal of getting residents into permanent homes.
Bennett said Tampa’s facility started with 100 tents and is preparing to open 75 tiny cottages; the site may eventually house up to 300 people. In March, Denver city officials voted to fund the operation of safe outdoor spaces through the end of 2024.
The Homeless Services Advisory Committee meets Nov. 1 in the civic chambers at Long Beach City Hall, 411 W. Ocean Blvd. When available, the meeting agenda will be posted here.