LONG BEACH, Calif. — As Long Beach prepares to open another winter shelter — amid protests from neighbors — a new tool to help the unhoused starts rolling, just weeks after the city approved a local emergency declaration on homelessness.
The city-run 2022 point in time count showed homelessness shot up 62% since 2020 in Long Beach. For a long time, the best way to get help and resources was to go to one building, the Multi-Service Center, located in a pretty industrial, non-central part of town. That’s changing, but at the same time shelter space isn’t keeping up with demand.
Veteran Jonathan Riggs needs a place to stay for him and his partner whom he cares for. Both struggle with medical issues, which pushed them out of reliable housing.
“It’s a damn shame that I’m sleeping on the street in a van because I had to take care of a disabled lady. Do I have all the answers? Absolutely not. I can’t change the world, but I refuse to contribute to the problem,” Riggs said.
He’s a stroke survivor and walks with a cane. Yet getting to help often means a lot of walking and multiple bus rides.
In Long Beach, to get access to one of roughly 1,300 shelter beds in the city, a referral is most likely needed. Instead of trekking all the way to the other side of the 710 to get one at the Multi-Service Center, Riggs is trying something new: The Mobile Access Center. It’s a traveling office with case managers, outreach workers and a public health nurse.
Even though he’s the city of Long Beach’s homeless resource coordinator now and doesn’t spend all that much time on the streets anymore, Joel Reynoza is an asset when he’s out on the front lines because this is his hometown.
“I do feel like it’s a game changer. I do feel like if we can keep this going, I would like to keep it going as long as possible,” Reynoza said, referencing the center.
Starting out, Reynoza was one of just a few outreach workers and so he’d spend hours going back-and-forth gathering files and copies. While this new tool is a vehicle for opportunity and efficiency, the demand for shelter beds is often greater than what is available.
“Our capacity is never lower than like 93% or so. They’re full pretty often… It’s a good thing because people are using the resource,” Reynoza said.
Unlike Riggs, fellow veteran David Henson already got what he was looking for. He endured bone-chilling overnight temperatures for weeks before entering the winter shelter at what once was Community Hospital.
“It was getting to me. I’m 69 years old. I couldn’t have spent one more night on the street,” Henson said.
After his first visit to the center, Riggs left without securing shelter. The people he needs to talk to — and the papers he needs — aren’t readily available. The to-do list and the frustrations keep growing.
“They treat cats and dogs better than we treat our fellow human beings in America and that’s a sad statement about our society,” Riggs said.
The center is funded through the Long Beach Recovery Act, a multi-million dollar COVID recovery program using federal American Rescue Plan Act money.
There is a schedule for where the MAC will be this month. It’s operating three days a week currently. There are plans to increase the hours, and even add more such vehicles.