The City has opened an overnight winter shelter for homeless individuals in north Long Beach. The facility will be open until March 1. Four other local shelters operate year-round for individuals and families.
Throughout the year, staff from the Health and Human Services Department’s Homeless Services Division and its community partners canvass Long Beach daily, engaging people who are homeless and offering emergency shelter, transportation, access to service providers and opportunities for housing, according to city officials. In 2016, 980 persons, including 200 veterans, received help to end their homelessness and were placed in permanent housing, officials said.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the administrative authority responsible for choosing the winter shelter operator, selected First to Serve Outreach Ministries as the operator in November.
The shelter operates daily between the hours of 5pm and 7am. In the event of inclement weather, the operator may extend these hours. The shelter is a closed facility; once checked into the facility, participants cannot enter or exit at-will. The shelter does not accept walk-ins; participants must be transported to and from the location from designated pick up/drop off areas.
The pick-up sites are:
Channel Street Park and Ride
110 Underpass and Channel Street
San Pedro
4:15pm
Long Beach Multi-Service Center
1301 W. 12th St.
Long Beach
4:15pm (Monday—Friday only, excluding holidays)
First Congregational Church
241 Cedar Ave.
Long Beach
5:15pm and 6:15pm
These three locations also serve as the drop-off sites, with the following arrival times: 8am at Channel Street Park and Ride; 7:30am at Long Beach Multi-Service Center; and 5:30am and 6:15am at First Congregational Church.
Space is limited, and carts are not allowed. Families are not allowed on the transportation; they should call 2-1-1.
The other local year-round shelters include the Long Beach Rescue Mission and Project Achieve for single individuals, and Catholic Charities and Lydia House for families.
Led by the Long Beach Health and Human Services Department, the Long Beach Continuum of Care (CoC) collaborates with multiple partners, from business and neighborhood associations, nonprofit and faith-based agencies to medical and educational institutions, to proactively address homelessness, officials said.
The CoC provided nearly 11,000 individual contacts in 2016, linking individuals to comprehensive services including shelter services, connection to mainstream benefits, mental health, medical care, employment, childcare, veteran benefits, housing linkage, prevention services and access to mail service and shower facilities.
For more information about access to the shelter, call the PATH hotline at (562) 373-5264.
Source: City of LB
