Long Beach is looking to establish an office for medication-assisted opioid treatment in order to combat the local opioid crisis and assist those experiencing homelessness, the City announced in a meeting Monday.
Pending approval from Long Beach City Council on Dec. 10, the City will apply for $16 million in California’s Proposition 1 funding. California voters approved Proposition 1 in March, authorizing the Department of Health Care Services to make more funding available for entities providing behavioral health services.
Behavioral health services under Proposition 1 are meant to help those experiencing homelessness who suffer from mental illness and/or addiction.
If Long Beach receives the funding, $4 million will go towards building a separate office at the Multi-Service Center to treat people with opioid addiction with medication. The City will use approximately $12 million on expanding services at the 702 Shelter on Anaheim Street, so the shelter can provide “enriched residential care.” This kind of care is meant for individuals diagnosed with a serious mental illness who are homeless, leaving an institution, on a conservatorship or enrolled in a CARE Court program.
According to the 2024 Long Beach Point in Time Count, 34.3% of people experiencing homelessness reported severe mental illness, and 28.3% reported suffering from substance use disorder. According to the Long Beach Health Department, roughly 1,330 overdose-related calls have been made to emergency services since 2019.
Medication for Addiction Treatment
The opioid treatment office would be a two-story, 2,400 square foot building constructed in the parking lot of the Multi-Service Center. The building would include a waiting room, exam rooms for assessment, counseling and treatment, and a secure space for dispensing medication and monitoring patients.
Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT) is when the use of FDA-approved medication, counseling and behavioral therapies are combined to treat substance abuse. Certain medications to treat opioid addiction, such as Methadone, have been used in the U.S. since 1947, and have shown a decrease in opioid use among patients. There are two other FDA-approved medications to treat opioid addiction, but the City did not specify which medication their facility would administer.
Homeless Services Bureau Manager Paul Duncan said this site would also be open to residents struggling with opioid addiction who are not currently experiencing homelessness. The City will also explore providing withdrawal management at the same location, he added.
As an extension of the Multi-Service Center, the treatment office would operate during the same hours as the center. An outside provider would be hired for the medication assistance and counseling needs, through the LA County Substance Abuse and Prevention Control program, City staff said.
Enriched Residential Care
The City also plans to use funds from Proposition 1 to expand upon the already-existing homeless shelter on Anaheim Street. With roughly $12 million, the City plans to provide enriched residential care by constructing private bedrooms, common rooms, a kitchen and more for 16 residents.
This long-term housing option is meant as an alternative to hospitalization, for those who have significant ongoing need for mental health support, but who are not in immediate crisis. Enriched residential care provides a stable living situation “with a homelike environment” for anywhere from three months to two years.
Individuals who live in enriched residential care can be someone diagnosed with a serious mental illness who is homeless, leaving a mental health institution, on a conservatorship or enrolled in a CARE Court program. The goal of enriched residential care is to restore independent living skills and provide access to support systems within the community.
The buildings will either be restored from already-existing structures at the Anaheim Street shelter or built on the same grounds. Amenities will include 24/7 security, private bedrooms, basic medical support, common areas, a kitchen, skill-building workshops, individualized support plans, therapy and rehabilitation services. Residents will be referred from the LA County Department of Mental Health and the local continuum of care systems.
One third of the shelter’s clients will be women and the rest will be men, Duncan said.
The Long Beach City Council will review these plans for the behavioral health projects at the Dec. 10 meeting, which will begin at 5 p.m. If approved, the City will submit its application by Dec. 13. Funding will be announced in May 2025, and construction is estimated to begin during or before Feb. 2026.
This funding is only for the construction of the buildings, City staff said. They said they will look to the county to help pay for services at each site.
Residents can sign up to ask questions or give comments on the proposed projects at the City Council meeting by submitting their name on a piece of paper to the City Clerk at the start of the meeting.
A previous version of this article stated that the Long Beach City Council would review these plans at the Dec. 3 meeting. This meeting has been postponed to Dec. 10.
