In order to increase housing and reduce homelessness, Long Beach is asking its local educational institutions to work with the city to help build housing units. The program has been deemed the “Housing Promise.”
Following unanimous approval from city council, City Manager Tom Modica will work with Cal State Long Beach (CSULB), Cal State Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), Long Beach City College (LBCC) and the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) to increase housing production in the city.
“We think that the city alone cannot and should not be the only ones to focus on this issue, but we need to think about broader strategic partnerships to look at ways to improve the systems in which folks in our community are housed,” said Mayor Rex Richardson, who presented the idea to council.
In order to meet housing goals set by the Regional Housing Needs Assessment and continue to receive state funding, Long Beach has to build more than 26,000 new housing units by 2030. The city met its goal for market-rate housing during the 2013-2021 cycle, but fell short of its goals for affordable housing units by 3,300, according to staff reports.
The Housing Promise aims to have the local educational institutions create housing not only for its students, but also for Long Beach residents.
Richardson argued for the need for “strategic partnerships” due to the dissolution of redevelopment agencies, which were local government bodies dedicated to leveraging resources to fund housing production. The city was receiving roughly $20-30 million a year from redevelopment funds, 20% of which had to be used for affordable housing production and preservation, Richardson said.
“It took away one of our biggest tools not just for housing, but for economic development,” Richardson said. “The housing crisis is not unique to this city … the way that we produce housing and those mechanisms for housing has changed over the last decade.”
It’s unclear how much of the new housing production will result in affordable, or low-income units, since only Downtown Long Beach has a mandate to include affordable housing in new developments.
Since 1990, Long Beach’s population has increased by 10% but the housing stock has only increased by 4%, according to the 2022 Long Beach Housing Element. That same document reveals that one in four renters in the city spends more than half their income on rent.
Local students have also been highly impacted by the lack of affordable housing in the Long Beach area.. Cal State Long Beach found that one in eight students reported experiencing homelessness at least once in the past year, while this number was one in 10 for Long Beach City College students.
In 2020, LBCC began allowing students living in their cars to park safely overnight in an on-campus lot.
“The lack of affordable housing in the market has impacted these institutions’ abilities to support their students, and we also know it has a direct impact on enrollment,” said Councilmember Megan Kerr. “This is not about the city telling educational institutions what to do, it’s about coming to the table to collaborate, to vision and dream…”
There were 68 minors identified during the 2022 Point in Time Homeless Count, and 38 families. This number is likely higher since, historically, families are less accounted for in homeless counts, according to staff reports. LBUSD has reported at least 3,000 students struggling with permanent housing.
Kerr emphasized that the program would not have any negative effect on the Long Beach College Promise, which gives Long Beach students a year of free tuition at city colleges and universities.
Multiple students from CSULB’s student body government came to the city council meeting to voice their support for the Housing Promise.
“Coming from a low-income household, I struggled with food and housing insecurity, and there was a point in my life when my family was homeless, living in our car after we lost everything, so I know it’s important to have support from my campus but also from my community,” said Teresa Falcon, CSULB senator for housing and residential life.
Councilmember Al Austin asked if the city is planning to “piggyback” off funds that educational institutions will receive for student housing.
“I think you hit the nail on the head,” Richardson said. “When we get an allocation of funding for housing … it doesn’t say who has to build that housing, it just says the community has to deliver this number of units. The concept that the city is solely responsible for that is an idea of the past.”