City of Long Beach - File #: 23-0084

• File #: 23-0084
• Version: 2
• Name: PW - Emerg Ord Homeless
• Type: Emergency Ordinance
• Status: Adopted
• File created: 1/20/2023
• In control: City Council
• On agenda: 1/24/2023
• Final action: 2/7/2023
• Title: Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 2.84.170, to temporarily suspend certain provisions of Chapter 2.84 during the proclaimed local emergency caused by homelessness; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide) (Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-23-0003)
• Sponsors: Public Works

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
2/7/2023	2	City Council	approve recommendation and adopt	Pass
1/24/2023	1	City Council	approve recommendation to declare an emergency to exist	Pass
1/24/2023	1	City Council	approve recommendation to declare Emergency Ordinance No. ORD- , read, and adopted as read and laid over to the next regular meeting of the City Council for final reading	Pass

TITLE
Recommendation to declare ordinance amending the Long Beach Municipal Code by adding Section 2.84.170, to temporarily suspend certain provisions of Chapter 2.84 during the proclaimed local emergency caused by homelessness; declaring the urgency thereof; and declaring that this ordinance shall take effect immediately, read and adopted as read. (Citywide)
(Emergency Ordinance No. ORD-23-0003)

DISCUSSION
The amended Ordinance adding Chapter 2.84.170 (Chapter) to the Long Beach Municipal Code (LBMC) will remove the single job order threshold in an effort to renovate facilities and build free and affordable housing to combat the crisis of homelessness.

According to City of Long Beach's (City) 2022 Point in Time Count, Long Beach continues to have approximately 3,300 people experiencing homelessness throughout the city, which is a 77 percent increase since 2017 and a 62 percent increase from 2020 to 2022.

Homelessness has disproportionately impacted Black, Indigenous, and Pacific Islander Long Beach residents who are approximately three times more likely to be experience homelessness than other populations. Black people comprise only 13 percent of the population of the city but, in the most recent homelessness count completed in February 2022, accounted for approximately 36 percent of people experiencing homelessness. More than 40 percent of people experiencing homelessness have experienced violence or trauma in their lives, and 6 percent were fleeing violence when they became homeless. The number of veterans experiencing homelessness has grown by 48 percent since 2019.

The State of California's COVID-19 State of Emergency that provided resources to keep many Long Beach residents from falling into homelessness will eventually end. Immediate action is required to create additional housing to shelter and support homeless residents and build the needed infrastructure to address public safety concerns due to homelessness, violence, and severe mental and physic...