Signal Hill is the first city in LA County to achieve a “functional zero homelessness,” as County officials hope others will follow its model.
Months of consistently focused outreach on the streets and partnerships across cities, counties and nonprofits has culminated in a remarkable feat. According to County and City officials, Signal Hill has housed every homeless resident the City could find with a private unit, three meals a day and supportive services aimed at permanent housing.
Despite having no homeless shelter within the city, Signal Hill used internal efforts to make this possible, such as taking the responsibility of homeless outreach from the police department and into multiple City departments.
The March 14 operation put 45 homeless Signal Hill residents and 15 Long Beach residents into interim housing units in the same Long Beach location, which could not be made public to protect the privacy and safety of the people.
At the March 26 Signal Hill City Council meeting, City and County officials broke down the combined efforts taken by Signal Hill, Long Beach, LA County Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office and organizations such as Pathway Home, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and the LA County Homeless Initiative.
Mayor Lori Woods recalled attending the Contract Cities Fall Conference when she sat in on a panel on regional homeless services, learned about the new Pathway Home program and wrote the number for Onnie Williams, the program’s contact, in her notepad.
That small piece of paper was passed onto Deputy City Manager Grissel Chavez, as Woods excitedly told her about the new program. Months later, Woods congratulated city staff at the March 26 meeting while holding back tears for getting every homeless resident in Signal Hill into interim housing.
“It sounds as simple as that, but it was the preparedness for years and the desire and the compassion for our unhoused community that brought all of the elements together,” Woods said.
Combined County Efforts
Pathway Home is led by the LA County Homeless Initiative adopted by the Board of Supervisors in 2023. The program enacts a “full-circle solution” that focuses on bringing people off the streets and immediately into interim housing accompanied by supportive services, an individual space, case management, three meals a day and a pet-friendly environment.
The program is funded by Measure H funds, a 25 cent sales tax approved by LA County voters in 2017 to bolster the county’s homelessness services.
Pathway Home partners with local jurisdictions to “eliminate barriers” that usually keep people from moving into interim housing and accepting other services. Pathway Home has provided interim housing for 488 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, and has helped move 56 residents into permanent housing.
“Signal Hill is the only [city] who’s done anything and I’ve been homeless, on the streets day and night since 2016,” said Kelly Wilson, one of the residents who was rehoused with her dog Monkey on March 14. “Not everyone out here is a drug addict, not everyone out here has mental health issues, some of us just had life show up.”
Residents were moved into a Long Beach hotel, though Signal Hill was not permitted to give the exact location, City Manager Carlo Tomaino said. Those who were relocated will continue to receive supportive services, including housing navigation in an effort to help residents move into their own permanent homes within six months.
“We’re thrilled that this is a sub-regional, multi-jurisdictional collaboration. This is exactly what we want to see throughout LA County to resolve homelessness and this can be a model to the rest of the jurisdictions … when we work together, magic can really happen,” said LA County Homeless Initiative representative Kailee Caruso.
Following these efforts, Signal Hill has announced a “functional zero homelessness,” which means the City has housed nearly every homeless resident in the area and can now focus on maintaining a functional zero and preventing homelessness through long-term solutions.
Tomaino acknowledged the difficulties in knowing the exact number of homeless residents in the city at any given time, since people who are experiencing homelessness may have to move from city-to-city for a variety of reasons.
Signal Hill’s ‘Secret Sauce’
Councilmember Keir Jones asked what the “secret sauce” was that contributed to the success of the program, since all the services provided have been available for years. Chavez responded it was “excellent teamwork, collaboration and the relationships that have been built over the last few years … [as well as] all the boots on the ground from all the service providers.”
She also cited efficient communication among the city and providers over the last 12 plus months. Tomaino added that the Neighborhood Enhancement Team provides “consistent maintenance” of issues in the city and acknowledged Signal Hill officials for employing a hands-on approach for outreach and building trust with residents.
Read more about Signal Hill’s Neighborhood Enhancement Team:
“It’s really monumental what you’ve achieved and it’s because you all worked together with what resources were available to really change these people’s lives, and it’s huge,” Jones said. “I can’t emphasize how proud I am of this team to make this happen, because many people have gone down this same path and not achieved the same results.”
A Change in Leadership
Another change in Signal Hill’s efforts to reduce homelessness was taking the responsibility away from the Signal Hill Police Department and giving it to City departments. Embodying this change is Adriana Lopez, the city’s first-ever Homelessness Liaison who was hired in October 2022.
Lopez’s job is to “encourage and create cooperation and exchange of information among the agencies and cities,” she said at the City Council meeting. She currently represents Signal Hill, Lakewood and Hawaiian Gardens.
The first step Lopez took was creating strong partnerships with regional services already being offered, and making Signal Hill more of a priority for providers through constant communication.
Signal Hill police sergeant Dan Moreau said that prior to Lopez’s hiring, SHPD was the “point person” for homelessness in the city. He said that SHPD would have an occasional success story, but the collaboration between police, City departments, LA County and service providers “has been a game changer.”
Moreau pointed out that the amount of time and effort put into creating trust with homeless residents and forming lasting partnerships among county departments and organizations is its own role, which SHPD was unable to do while maintaining its regular police work.
“We were struggling to ensure that we were getting the resources that we needed,” Moreau said, adding that Signal Hill was vying for the same resources as Artesia, Bellflower, South Gate, Huntington Park and other cities in the region. Since Signal Hill does not have any homeless shelters, homeless residents would have to travel to Whittier or sometimes farther in order to receive supportive services.
Moreau said that Signal Hill now has an increased focus from county services and providers.
“After working with the city for six years myself, seeing this growth has been tremendous,” Moreau said.
Lopez cited flexibility in her role as one of the most important parts of making connections, as she would conduct outreach and connect with homeless residents outside of regular working hours based on when she noticed the most needs. The City identified Reservoir Park and the Signal Hill Public Library as two areas of concentrated homeless population, and focused much of its efforts in those places.
“When we talk about the cost of homelessness, we don’t talk about [how] a lot of it is spent on the people who are putting the work in,” said Vice Mayor Edward Wilson. “It’s spun like we’re wasting money, but it takes more than one meeting to create those connections … It’s an incredible feat that’s been accomplished here in Signal Hill.”
A previous version of this story ran in the Signal Tribune on March 29 and mistakenly identified Mayor Lori Woods as Tina Hansen. Hansen is a councilmember for Signal Hill and was not present at the March 26 meeting. Woods has been serving as the Mayor of Signal Hill since December 2023 and was pivotal in the efforts mentioned in the article.
The Signal Tribune sincerely apologizes for this error and any confusion this may have caused.