Long Beach is working to create a social enterprise grocery store that will give employment opportunities to youth experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The grocery store will be housed in a former liquor store near the Atlantic Bridge Housing Community in North Long Beach, a year-round homeless shelter with wraparound services.
According to Homeless Services Bureau Manager Paul Duncan, the store will provide “healthy foods at a reasonable cost” to an area with a dearth of grocery stores.
In February 2021, Kroger announced that it would shut down its North Long Beach Food 4 Less and Ralph’s locations after the Long Beach City Council approved an ordinance requiring “hero pay”—a $4 hourly pay boost for grocery workers.
“It’s a benefit to the community: getting fresh produce, bringing down prices,” Duncan said. “At the same time, we can provide employment opportunities for youth that have been experiencing homelessness.”
He noted that many mom-and-pop grocers often purchase their wares from other stores and then sell them at a mark-up. With access to the new grocer, they’ll be able to access food closer to wholesale prices, he said.
“Our goal isn’t necessarily to make this large profit,” Duncan said.
Duncan said the former liquor store was purchased using a combination of state funding for homelessness and education around 2019. The project is also supported by $1 million in Long Beach Recovery Act funds.
Employment opportunities are a form of upstream prevention, which addresses the root causes of homelessness.
Duncan cited a study by the California Policy Lab that found that people who are out of the labor force for more than two years have more trouble gaining employment.
Though entities like the City’s Multi-Service Center can help people secure disability income and other forms of assistance, Duncan said that employment can provide long-term security.
“Federal relief is never going to be enough to pay anybody’s rent, or get them off the street, or keep them in housing if they’re at risk of losing their housing,” Duncan said.
The program has two-fold benefits, Duncan said, in that it assists youth experiencing homelessness as well as the local community.
“Our best effort towards prevention is really supporting families,” Duncan said. “It goes a long way when you’re having to make choices about rent versus food, and the stress that creates on families.”
The former liquor store has already been cleaned out, but there are still additional repairs to be made. The space is currently empty, save for some walk-in refrigerators.
In the next three to four months, the department will open a Request for Proposals (RFP) to find an operator that will develop the space further and turn it into a functioning grocery store.
Duncan hopes construction will begin sometime during 2022. The department is currently interviewing for a new administrator that will oversee the funding used for the project.
The program funding will support the development of the site, wages for the youth workers and funding for the operator, who will provide additional job coaching and support to the participants.
Duncan said the department has set aside enough money to fund the store’s first two years of operation, but that they might need to seek additional funding opportunities for the cost of development and long-term operation.
The grocery store is just one way the City plans to redevelop the property surrounding the Atlantic Bridge Housing Community.
Duncan emphasized that there will be further community engagement to get the public’s feedback on what they’d like to see developed on the site and how those additions would fit into the community.
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