County Sales Tax Funds to Boost Homeless Services

While homelessness in Long Beach has reportedly declined over the past two years, funds from a Los Angeles County sales tax measure will further strengthen the city’s coordinated network of homeless services, city officials said.

Measure H, which voters approved last year to raise sales taxes a quarter percent across the county for a 10-year period, is expected to provide more than $1.7 million for homeless services this fiscal year, said Kelly Colopy, director of the city’s health and human services department, in a recent interview with the Beachcomber.

The funding, available through July 2018, will go toward services such as “rapid rehousing, homeless outreach and service navigation” as well as embedding a public health nurse in the city’s outreach team and “further strengthening the coordinated entry system,” she said.

In addition, Measure H is expected to provide the city with more than $700,000 in landlord incentives aimed at increasing housing access for individuals and families who qualify for Housing Choice Vouchers, formerly known as Section 8.

The injection of county funds comes as Long Beach has recently made strides in reducing its homeless population at the same time as homelessness has reportedly risen across Los Angeles County.

According to findings from the 2017 Biennial Homeless Count conducted in January and mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the total number of homeless individuals identified in Long Beach dropped by 21 percent from 2,345 in 2015 to 1,863 in 2017. The number of chronic homeless persons dropped from 927 to 686 during the same time period, exhibiting a nearly 26 percent reduction, according to results released in May.

In contrast, Los Angeles County saw its number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless individuals increase by about 23 percent over the past year, jumping from 46,874 to 57,794 from 2016 to 2017, according to a report from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which is mandated by HUD to conduct an annual a point-in-time homeless count.

Although Long Beach and Los Angeles County face many of the same issues contributing to homelessness, such as rising rents, the city is smaller geographically and easier to handle resources than the county, said Colopy, who added that the next homeless count in Long Beach will be conducted in January 2019.

In addition, she said the city has worked extensively to tighten coordination in its “Continuum of Care” system, which utilizes about 12 different social service organizations, including public safety and nonprofit agencies, through the city’s multi-service center, located at 1301 W. 12th St.

“We’re constantly working together to better coordinate and make sure people [experiencing homelessness] are being connected to services,” Colopy said. “I believe that we’ve got one of the strongest models in the country in terms of how we coordinate those services with the resources that we have.”

She noted that Long Beach, which saw permanent housing resources nearly double over the past two years, was also recognized in 2016 for providing all U.S. veterans in the city with permanent housing, also known as achieving a “functional zero” veteran homeless population.

Still, while homelessness is down citywide, findings show homeless individuals are “moving from higher densities in specific neighborhoods to a more general dispersion across the city,” city officials said in a statement on the city’s homeless count.

City officials said some of the city’s homeless population has “shifted to areas outside of traditional concentration areas,” and the dispersion of homeless individuals can be attributed to downtown’s revitalization and maintenance efforts along river corridors as well as wetlands and greenspace restoration.

LAHSA, which directly funds the city’s winter shelter that this year will be located at the former North Neighborhood Library at 5571 Orange Ave. in North Long Beach, is currently in contract with the City of Long Beach through Measure H to provide a number of strategies to further assist homeless individuals and families in coming months.

After this fiscal year (ending July 1, 2018), LAHSA will be renegotiating its contract with the city to re-examine how much Measure H funding will be available for fiscal year 2019, said Colopy, who added that the city’s winter shelter is expected to officially open sometime this week.

As for this fiscal year, Measure H funds will help increase outreach opportunities and provide the city with the ability to conduct a “systems navigation,” she said. In addition, funds will pay for a mental health worker to coordinate with the city’s housing authority as part of a homeless “prevention mechanism.”

Colopy said funds will also allow the city to provide landlords with a month of rent before a person experiencing homelessness and who qualifies for a Housing Choice Voucher moves in. The incentive program also provides subsidies through the rental inspection process and a damage mitigation fund.

In addition, the county funds will provide more rapid rehousing opportunities in which persons experiencing homelessness are provided with access to housing while searching for employment. The city is also considering a permanent homeless shelter in the city, but funding such a facility has yet to be fully vetted, she said.

The City of Long Beach, meanwhile, is providing a more stabilized funding source for homeless services this year by dedicating $125,000 as part of the health department’s ongoing budget while $250,000 will remain one-time city funds for homeless services.

Colopy added that, even though Long Beach has seen a reduction in homelessness in recent years, the city must continue efforts to strengthen its network and consider long-term solutions, such as increasing affordable housing as well as improving mental health and substance-abuse programs.

“If we’re going to really fully address homelessness, you need more opportunities for housing, mental health services and substance-abuse services,” she said. “We’re doing the best we can within that system, but it would require additional resources for us to fully address the situation in the city.”

sean@beachcomber.news