Faced with losses in federal funding, increased service charges and the City’s own $58.2 million deficit, the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department (DHHS) has been tasked with slashing over $9 million from its 2027 budget.
These cuts are expected to impact the department’s ability to address the city’s homelessness crisis, tenant protections and free community services such as health clinics, Health and Human Services Director Dr. Alison King said during Tuesday night’s budget hearing. It may also result in the loss of 79 jobs in the department, from nurses to environmental health specialists.
“We really have to recognize that we are in unprecedented territory with an administration that just really does not value the work of our health department,” Ninth District Councilmember Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie said.
The Health Department’s budget in 2025 was made up mostly of federal and state grants, though they have been dwindling since the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term. Roughly $9 million of the Health Department’s budget is coming from the City’s general fund.
This year, the department lost $15 million in grants through cancellations, reductions and non-renewals. Another $9.5 million in costs are hitting the department’s Health Fund, which is funded by the department and also faces a drop in Measure A funding.
To help cushion these cuts, the department will increase the cost of certain health permits and receive some help from the City to bridge other gaps. A new sales tax beginning in October is also expected to help, but like other departments, King was unable to avoid laying off City workers.
“For over three years my work has meant knocking on doors to care for our most vulnerable neighbors; those who are elderly, disabled or struggling with chronic illnesses at home,” said public health nurse Lucy Dale. “I’m urging you not to lay off City employees. When we cut these positions, we aren’t just cutting line items. We are dismantling the safety net that keeps our community healthy.”
Another health worker, Bianca Padilla, with the IAM Local 1930 labor union said non-essential City employees have been asked by the City during current contract negotiations to work without pay or use PTO (paid time off) between Christmas and New Year’s. She said the City hasn’t specified who non-essential employees are or how many years this change will last.
“As is being expected, this budget crisis is being used to shortchange our union, a union that represents the largest body of City employees. A union with over 45% of its membership being Long Beach residents,” Padilla said. “Mayor [Rex] Richardson has said that employees deserve a City with a stable financial future. We who make this City function also deserve a stable financial future.”
Housing and Homelessness
The Health Department expects to have $53.13 million for homelessness services, a slight uptick from last year. However, by 2028 this number is expected to drop to $37.31 million.
Most of this reduction is from state and federal cuts, King said. They have also seen a $3.1 million decrease in Measure A allocations this year due to a dip in Los Angeles County sales taxes.
This year the Health Department’s Measure A funds totaled $8.9 million: $3.9 million to its Continuum of Care (which covers a wide range of services, both preventative and outreach-based) and $5 million towards its local solutions fund.
Measure A funds are expected to take an even sharper decrease in 2028 due to other obligations, King said. As a result, they are treating the $8.9 million this year as one-time funding, not expecting it to be renewed in 2028.
As a result of these changes, the Health Department will likely have to discontinue one of its two Mobile Access Centers (MACs). A MAC is a vehicle that stays at various public spaces in the city to connect with people experiencing homelessness and offer them services. King said the department will attempt to partner with a non-profit to run one of the MACs so they won’t have to cut it and report back to the council.
The City also has to cut down its homeless services shuttles from two to one.
Additionally, the department is losing one-time funds that helped support the Community Crisis Response team ($374,000) and the Complaint Response Team ($272,000). The Community Crisis Response (CCR) team is unarmed, specialized non-law enforcement workers who respond to non-violent, non-medical emergencies that typically end up needing mental or behavioral health services. The Complaint Response Team (CRT) responds to complaints and investigations regarding unpermitted sidewalk and street food vendors.
The CCR team will now be covered by Measure A funds in 2027 while the department searches for grants and outside sources of support. The CRT will be shut down at the end of September.
From federal grants, Long Beach anticipates losing a total of $11 million from the Housing and Urban Development Department. These impacts mean the loss of 480 emergency housing vouchers. The City will also have to cut its motel shelter voucher rooms from 40 to 15, and will lose the ability to assist 45 households with rapid rehousing.
The Health Department anticipates some relief from Measure ER, a voter-approved county-wide sales tax that will begin on Oct. 1 and continue through 2031. Expected to bring in between $7 and $8 million to the department annually, King called it “one of the most significant opportunities to stabilize public services.”
She mentioned the City will host a meeting on Aug. 24 with the County to gain clarity on the timing and allocations of Measure ER.
King estimated that $1.7 million of those funds could go to restoring 12 health department workers for the 2027 budget, and another $3.2 million could restore 14 positions in 2028. However, she emphasized that Measure ER is “intentionally a bridge and not a permanent solution.”
Tuesday’s budget hearing did not finalize the Health Department’s budget, and details may change over the next few weeks. Long Beach has to finalize its 2027 budget by Sept. 13.
