Department of
Health & Human Services

Long Beach, CA – The City of Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department) will receive $5.2 million in grants over a three-year period from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), according to an announcement made by HUD on April 17. Funding will be utilized to support the City’s rapid rehousing and permanent housing efforts for people experiencing homelessness.

“Addressing the homelessness crisis in our region will require thoughtful collaboration across sectors and levels of government. Over the past few months, we have engaged with the Biden Administration and HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge to advocate for additional federal support to bolster our local homeless emergency response,’’ said Mayor Rex Richardson. “This funding will allow us to implement focused tactics that support rapid rehousing, permanent housing and other critical supportive services for unsheltered individuals and families experiencing homelessness.”

Funding will be utilized by the Health Department’s Homeless Services Bureau to:

• Provide rapid rehousing and support for 45 families, in partnership with the nonprofit organization Illumination Foundation.
• Provide permanent supportive housing to 140 people, in partnership with the Long Beach Housing Authority and Los Angeles County.
• Provide outreach and connection to mental health services, in partnership with Mental Health America of Los Angeles.
• Help support Coordinated Entry System operations. 

Late last year, HUD announced a special notification of funding opportunity to enhance communities’ capacity to humanely and effectively address unsheltered homelessness by connecting vulnerable individuals and families to housing, healthcare and supportive services. Entities selected to receive funding will implement coordinated approaches, grounded in Housing First and public health principles, to reduce the prevalence of unsheltered homelessness and improve services, health outcomes and housing stability among highly at-risk individuals and families experiencing homelessness. In total, the City has been awarded $5,193,648, for a three-year period. The City anticipates receiving the first round of funding around July 1, 2023.

“Implementing long-term housing solutions for people experiencing homelessness is a critical component to ending homelessness,” said Health Department Director Kelly Colopy. “This grant will make a huge impact in our ability to connect individuals and families to permanent housing, which is life-altering for the recipients of these services.”

For more information on the City’s efforts to reduce homelessness in Long Beach, people may visit longbeach.gov/homelessness and follow @lbhealthdept and @longbeachcity on social media and follow the hashtag #EveryoneHomeLB.