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Is solving Long Beach’s housing crisis a backyard business?

It’s a secret to no one that Long Beach has a housing shortage. It may come as a surprise that a solution might be in each of our backyards.

Production of accessory dwelling units — known as granny flats or mother-in-law units — has continued to boom inside city limits; Long Beach permitted 644 ADUs in 2025, which is more than half of the 1,218 housing units approved that year. 

Seeing the success, the California Department of Housing and Community Development awarded Long Beach $4.8 million to expand a 2024 pilot to subsidize the cost of building more ADUs in the backyards of homeowners who can’t afford it themselves. 

At the start of next month, the city will open applications for those eager to build. Applications run through Nov. 30, and the city expects to fund at least 16 units.

The program offers 30-year, deferred-payment loans of up to $250,000, at a listed 2% interest, to homeowners who live in their houses and earn below the low-income threshold for Los Angeles County. The Community Development Department will hold online and in-person information sessions, with details here. 

The city also provides free help with design, permitting, construction and leasing. The pitch is partly about rent, but also about letting low- and moderate-income owners, including many seniors on fixed incomes, become landlords and earn steady income. Under the pilot, owners had to rent to tenants with Housing Authority vouchers. The new round drops that rule, though the city will encourage it.

It’s an emerging trend that was nonexistent a decade ago. 

ADU permits rose to a whopping 59 in 2018, and then saw explosive growth, reaching 671 in 2023 and 747 in 2024. From 2018 to 2022, the city saw the most ADU permits per capita of any city in California. 

Much of that is state law, which has made ADUs far easier to build. As per state law, an ADU must have “permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking, and sanitation.” That means its own entrance, living area, kitchen and bathroom. But most homeowners can add a detached unit of up to 800 square feet without impact fees or parking requirements. 

A lot of the units, if you can believe it, are going up in low-density suburbs like Bixby Knolls, Los Altos and California Heights, and in parts of East and North Long Beach.

Unfortunately, the city continues to struggle with housing elsewhere. A city memo from June 18 laid out how the city is stalling on new developments, comparing more than 5,000 units entitled from 2022 to 2024 but only 366 in 2025, which it ties to crushing federal tariffs, interest rates and slimmed state and federal budgets. The city has only permitted about 6% of the affordable homes it needs by 2029. 

ADUs cannot be the substitute for normal housing production, but they’ve clearly taken a larger role and have momentum to continue. Even so, the city’s incentive program is underfunded. In the original 2024 pilot, more than 400 homeowners applied for 10 loans. As of the memo, two of those projects were finished, five were under construction, and three were in early permitting, and six of the 10 sit in high- or highest-resource neighborhoods, a goal of the city’s fair housing plan. Mayor Rex Richardson says the program “has been a tremendous success,” and in many ways he’s right. 

But it’s far from everything Long Beach needs.

Since April 2023, the city has received hundreds of notices from people saying they’ve been wrongfully evicted, including at least 219 people removed from 167 units being remodeled. Displacement consistently happens in the city’s poorest neighborhoods. 

And of the 10 loans doled out in the first round of the program, six went to homeowners in richer neighborhoods. 

In many ways, figuring out the city’s housing woes must also confront housing prices, displacement and a retreat from the adage of the rich getting richer.

Quick sips of the latest news

  • Bay Shore closes for renovations: The Bay Shore Neighborhood Library (195 Bay Shore Ave.) will shut its doors starting Monday for renovations expected to finish early next year. They include improvements to restrooms, electrical work, upgrades to lighting and plumbing, and a new drinking fountain. The library will continue to offer afternoon pickup services for materials, and weekly story times will continue off-site. Check the city library calendar for updates. 
  • In the weed delivery business? Do you want to be? The city is accepting applications for delivery-only cannabis licenses, available exclusively to verified Cannabis Equity Program applicants. The licenses would allow you to conduct cannabis deliveries in Long Beach as a low-cost alternative to a traditional storefront. Applications are now available and are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Those with questions can email [email protected]. For more information, visit here. 
  • A new fire station: The city last week opened Fire Station 9 (4101 Long Beach Blvd.), a 12,779-square-foot, two-story facility that replaces the former station at 3917 Long Beach Blvd. and serves the Los Cerritos, Bixby Knolls and California Heights neighborhoods. Construction began in 2024 and has brought upgraded sidewalks, utilities and roadways, along with a new traffic signal at Long Beach Boulevard and East Randolph Place for emergency vehicles exiting the station. The station also has rooftop solar panels, water-saving fixtures and drought-tolerant landscaping. “Fire Station 9 is more than a new building,” Fire Chief Dennis Buchanan said. “It is an investment in our firefighters and the communities we serve.”
  • Another reminder to vote: Voting centers opened Saturday across Los Angeles County and will remain open through Election Day on Nov. 3. You can find a center here. Need a ride? Long Beach Transit is offering free fares on all routes on Election Day, including for its Dial-a-Lift riders. For those mailing in their ballot, you can return it (no postage required) to one of the 20 registered drop boxes or a voting center. Voters can track their ballots here. Keep in mind: nearly all of the city races — mayor, City Council, etc. — were decided in the June primary. But for those races that are continuing, check out our most recent voter guides here. For those complicated statewide propositions, we recommend CalMatters’ guide. Our partner LAist has great guides for the regional races.

ICYMI — California and national news

  • The Long Beach City Council will not meet Tuesday. Check here for the most up-to-date agendas. 
  • We’ve also launched a guide to help you prepare for a potentially historic El Niño rainy season. What else should we include? Hit reply and let me know.