TITLE
Recommendation to request City Manager to work with local educational institutions including California State University Long Beach (CSULB), California State University Dominguez Hills (CSUDH), Long Beach City College (LBCC), and Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), as well as industry partners in Long Beach’s key growth sectors, to pursue strategic partnerships and cooperation agreements that make meaningful investments to support housing production and add to Long Beach’s existing housing stock, and refer to the Educational Partnerships Committee and the Housing and Public Health Committee for input and discussion.
DISCUSSION
The Problem
During the 2023 State of the City Address, Mayor Richardson highlighted the need to address our dual housing and homelessness crisis as a central focus of his Opportunity Beach Agenda. Every day, families living in our region are feeling the effects of our severe housing shortage in Southern California and the skyrocketing cost of living. With nearly 3,300 unhoused residents in need of permanent housing, a housing stock that has only increased 4% while the City’s population has increased by 10% since 1990, and more than 1 in 4 renters paying more than half of their monthly income in rent, lack of accessible housing has become one of the most urgent and significant issues facing Long Beach families.
Rent Burden
The City of Long Beach ranks 14th across the entire country in the proportion of tenants who are severely housing cost-burdened, with 26% of households paying more than 50% of their income in rent each month.3 Many of these households are families with children, 57% of whom suffer from rent burdens nationwide.4 Tenant families living in urban areas along the west coast report the highest rates of rent burden, meaning that the number of Long Beach’s families who are rent burdened is likely higher than 57%.
Rent burdens and housing insecurity have serious negative impacts on child well-being, with several ...
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