During the March 15 Long Beach City Council meeting, members voted unanimously to receive and file the Citywide Strategic Plan on Veterans. The plan aims to bring visibility to veterans in the community and create an office to facilitate access to resources.
The process started over five years ago by creating the Veterans Affairs Commission, which interviewed veterans, veteran organizations and elected officials about what the City can do to better serve its roughly 17,000 military veteran residents.
“I believe that this strategic plan and all the goals in it will undoubtedly improve the lives of Long Beach veterans in the communities that support them,” said Jesse Soria, founder of the veteran group People of the Earth.
One of the goals presented by the commission was the creation of an “Office of Veteran Support” inside of the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department.
The office would be a “clearinghouse” for resources and services to veterans to help them fully take advantage of federal, state, and local veteran benefits in the areas of housing, education, physical and mental healthcare, and career-building, according to the report.
Veterans Affairs Commissioner Josh Smith spoke on the importance of veteran-to-veteran communication in accessing resources, saying, “The word of a veteran to another veteran is a lot stronger than that of a website or anything else or any book.”
Additionally, the commission suggested adding veteran-specific resources to the website Unite Us, which is already used by the health department to connect patients with healthcare providers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The commission recommended that the City begin holding summits to address housing, health and employment issues, especially for veterans transitioning to civilian life.
Transition is defined as the two years after a veteran leaves active duty military service.
Nivardo Gonzalez spoke about his struggles as a marine combat veteran and said he “didn’t know how to deal with” his transition out of service. He said his first trip to North Long Beach’s Veterans Day parade helped the process.
“I’ve always thought about how I could help more, how I could help the veteran community not only in Long Beach but all over the country,” Gonzalez said, approving of the plan.
The commission also suggested devoting resources to help build more community among its veteran residents by launching a “Veteran Work Detail” that would work with veterans groups to plan activities like beach clean-ups and park improvement projects.
According to the report, a significant issue many veterans in the city face is the lack of affordable housing.
The veteran population of Long Beach is shrinking and aging rapidly, with a 27.8% decrease in the veteran population over the last ten years, of which 65% are veterans aged 55 or older, the strategic plan states.
The report suggests that the decrease could be due to the lack of affordable housing, especially for veterans under the age of 40, and recommends setting aside units for veterans in low-income housing developments like Century Villages at Cabrillo.
Another issue outlined in the report and spoken about during the council meeting was the topic of veteran suicide.
In Long Beach, the commission reported that 51 veterans died by suicide between 2014 and 2020. The risk is higher for younger veterans that are under the age of 40 with the report stating they are three times more likely to die by suicide compared to non-veterans.
Vice Mayor Rex Richardson called the number “staggering.”
The commission will also look to create greater visibility to the community through social media campaigns and recognition on light pole banners around the city.
One of the objectives of the plan is to create a multimedia campaign highlighting veterans in the community focused on those from marginalized communities such as women, LGBT, seniors and veterans living with disabilities.
“I don’t want it to just be a plan that lands on the shelf,” Richardson said. “I want it to get funded and implemented and help guide decisions we’re making. A lot of these things make a lot of sense.”
