Thanks to Long Beach Recovery Act funds, the City is creating 20 to 25 tiny home shelters at the Multi-Service Center for people experiencing homelessness, but they don’t plan to stop there.
At its Tuesday, Feb. 8 meeting, the Long Beach City Council directed staff to look for funding opportunities and potential partnerships to create additional tiny home shelters in the city.
“Obviously this is not the panacea, this is not the only answer to deal with our homeless crisis,” said Councilmember Al Austin, who authored the item. “But it’s the most immediate solution we have at our disposal, and it’s not as expensive with the government structure.”
Tiny home shelters are small, equally sized dwellings that provide basic amenities to the unhoused. They offer residents a bed, storage space, and privacy not found in congregate shelters.
In January, the Health Department presented its plan to build tiny home shelters outside the Multi-Service Center—a hub for many of the City’s case management and homeless outreach activities.
The $1.2 million project, funded by the Long Beach Recovery Act, will give residents in need close access to case management services and other Continuum of Care services at the center.
During Long Beach’s January 2020 Point-In-Time Count, the City identified 2,034 individuals experiencing homelessness. Of those, 78% were unsheltered, a 24% rise compared to 2019.
Austin anticipates that the 2021 Point-In-Time Count, set to take place Feb. 24, will reflect how COVID-19 “exacerbated challenges” regarding homelessness in the City.
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s 2022-2023 budget is expected to include financial support for new tiny home shelters, Austin wrote in the proposal.
City Manager Tom Modica expressed confidence that additional tiny home shelters would qualify for Project Roomkey funding handed down by the state, saying the project “absolutely qualifies” and that staff would be putting together a “very strong application” for the funds.
During public comment, resident Rocio Torres urged the council to create the shelters “sooner rather than later.”
“Homeless residents can’t wait,” she said. “With those tiny homes, we bring critical resources, everything in one location, to uplift our neighborhoods.”
Councilmember Rex Richardson urged staff to be open to all options—including empty parcels where landowners might be interested in developing tiny home shelters.
Health and Human Services Director Kelly Colopy said, of the funding sources she was aware of, the City would be required to make a 15-year commitment to the tiny home shelter location.
She noted the shelter element of the tiny homes meant that “good service” would entail a place where residents could access case management and other services that would help them transition into permanent housing.
Mary Simmons, who lives on the Anaheim Corridor, said the daily struggles of unhoused residents in the area were “just heartbreaking.” She supported the idea of creating more tiny home shelters.
“Sometimes we forget that the unhoused do live in communities amongst themselves,” resident Jim Howard said. “To me, that is one of the important things that tiny homes allow them to do, it allows them to live in a community where they can support each other.”
The city manager will work with Long Beach Continuum of Care partners and appropriate departments to study the program’s feasibility. They will have 60 days to report back to the council with their findings.
