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Some Major Matters Missing In Mayor's "Homeless Initiative"


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(April 20, 2018) -- On April 19, Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia announced what he labeled a "new citywide initiative" on homelessness, an issue on which he and the City Council offered mainly lipservice not actions while neighborhood complaints grew (although official homeless-count numbers shrank) during his first term of office. For the record, LBREPORT.com provides the City's full release here and Mayor Garcia's mass email text below (jump link here).

We noticed some major things missing and point them out below.

[Scroll down for further.]

  • 1. The first thing missing is...you. Your views and those of your neighbors. There's no mention of any publicly accessible meetings where you and your neighbors can speak and be taken seriously on this citywide impacting issue.

  • 2. The second thing missing is accountability. Mayor Garcia's process neatly spares himself and other LB electeds involvement in the hot potato issues until the process is nearly done. Non-elected city staff will prepare a "report." Staff will also report the views of a non-elected "task force" that in our view is visibly unbalanced (see number 3 below) and designed to operate without public or press transparency or oversight (see number 4 below).

  • 3. The third thing missing is balance. Garcia has created a potential neighborhood-impacting "task force" with no grassroots neighborhood group voices; read his choices (from Casablanca: "Round up the usual suspects"): (jump link here.) Several are establishment figures with no record of criticizing any Mayor or Council incumbents on anything; at least two are Garcia appointees to other bodies; some represent special interest advocacy groups; one (DLBA) took a hostile stance toward neighborhoods in the recent LUE/density battle; some are "service providers" whose expertise ought to be sensibly balanced against the fact that they may benefit from whatever recommendations they offer. Conspicuous by its absence: any voices with a record of outspoken defense for neighborhoods and residents' quality of life.

  • 4. The fourth thing missing is openness. Because Garcia and city management (not the Council) created the "task force," we believe it may try to exploit a loophole to operate behind closed doors without Brown (open meetings) Act public and press access to its activities. Unless the task force decides otherwise, that would leave the public and the press with no way to know what they're doing until after they've done it.

Based on the foregoing, we believe the Mayor's "Task Force" is more likely to ratify what city staff wants than to challenge official assertions and break new ground, resulting in a product that is basically staff driven or steered. At some point this fall (perhaps during the holidays when many people are busy with other things), a city staff-written report will materialize on a City Council agenda, written by city staff, making multiple recommendations on homeless issues for Council approval. At the Council meeting, city staff will present a Power Point show. The Mayor and Councilmembers will commend staff and the task force for their work. The Mayor will give members of the public three minutes each (or two or one and a half) to comment (while some Councilmembers text or wander out of the Council Chamber.) Then, they'll vote.

Is that what you want?

Mayor Garcia's April 19 mass emailing

Dear Friend --

Today I am announcing a new citywide initiative - Everyone Home Long Beach (Everyone Home LB), to address the statewide homelessness crisis and its effects on Long Beach.

Everyone Home LB is designed to build on the efforts already underway by the Long Beach City Council, the Long Beach Health Department, the Continuum of Care, and the Homeless Services Advisory Committee into a larger initiative, which will include participation from CEOs and community leaders from the city's major institutions.

While Long Beach has done some amazing work to address homelessness, it is clear we must do more. This initiative is designed to mobilize the entire community to create new pathways into homes and to increase efforts to prevent our residents from becoming homeless.

The Everyone Home LB initiative will be guided by leaders from key institutions, employers, and organizations across our community and will be chaired by CSULB President Jane Close Conoley. Andy Kerr, who represents Long Beach on the LA County Measure H Citizens' Oversight Advisory Board will serve as Vice Chair.

Everyone Home LB will also look at innovative new ideas and approaches to addressing homelessness in Long Beach. The initiative will propose efforts to address the linked challenges of homelessness and housing affordability in Long Beach. Homelessness has reached unprecedented levels across the state, and it will take the combined efforts of all the key institutions, stakeholders, and residents of our community to make the dream of a home a reality for all Long Beach residents.

Long Beach is leading Los Angeles County in addressing homelessness and leveraging funds to support people experiencing homelessness in our community. As one of only three cities in LA County to run its own Continuum of Care program, Long Beach has seen its point-in-time counts for the homeless population decline in each of the last four counts, declining by 41% from 2011 to 2017. The city’s network of partners which comprise the Continuum, led by the Health and Human Services Department, coordinate with each other and staff from other City departments, including the Police; Fire; Public Works; and Parks, Recreation, and Marine Departments, as well as the Homeless Services Advisory Committee, the Continuum of Care Board and general membership -- all of which deserve credit and praise for their tireless efforts to help move those experiencing homelessness into services and housing.

Annually more than 1,000 people are served at the Multi-Service Center with more than 13,000 visits each year. Nearly 3,100 people, including 1,243 veterans, have been permanently housed since 2013.

The goal of this initiative is to develop new solutions to support current efforts to transition people back into housing and services, while also identifying new opportunities to support those who need housing and by doing more to prevent homelessness in the first place. Prevention is one of the least-funded efforts in the continuum, and providing increased support for families and people in crisis can prevent vulnerable seniors, families, veterans, and youth from falling into homelessness.

The Everyone Home LB task force will meet through the summer to learn more about how the Continuum of Care is currently operating in Long Beach, provide input and suggestions, and build on the already developed comprehensive multi-faceted plan to support individuals and families in our community. Their work will be turned into a formal report by City staff and will be presented to the City Council and me this fall.

In addition, the Everyone Home LB task force will be meeting and working with students, people experiencing homelessness, tenants, property owners, and service providers as they prepare their report and plan. The task force will also review the work and progress of the Mayor’s Housing Affordability Study Group and make additional recommendations.

The Everyone Home LB Taskforce includes:

Chair Jane Close Conoley, CSULB President
Vice Chair Andy Kerr, Measure H Citizens' Oversight Advisory Board Member
Reagan Romali, LBCC Superintendent
Chris Steinhauser, LBUSD Superintendent
John Bishop, President Memorial Medical Center
Carolyn Caldwell, President St. Mary Medical Center
Brian D'Andrea, President Century Villages at Cabrillo
Jeff Johnson, Chair of Homeless Services Advisory Committee
Janet McCarthy, President of Goodwill Southern Los Angeles County
Erin Rank, President of Habitat for Humanity Los Angeles
John Molina, Partner - PAC 6
Christine Petit, Executive Director Long Beach Forward/Building Healthy Communities
Chris Miller, President Long Beach Mental Health America
Susana Sngiem, Executive Director United Cambodian Community
Jessica Quintana, Executive Director Centro CHA
Jeff Levine, Program Director Long Beach Rescue Mission and Co-Chair Continuum of Care
John Thomas, Chair Long Beach Community Investment Corporation
Randy Gordon, President Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
Kraig Kojian, President Downtown Long Beach Alliance
Porter Gilberg, Executive Director Long Beach LGBTQ Center
Gregory Sanders, President Long Beach Ministers Alliance
Suny Lay Chang, Chief Operating Officer LINC Housing
Kenneth McDonald, Chief Executive Officer Long Beach Transit
Brenda Threatt, Executive Director U.S. VETS Long Beach
Chris Wing, Chief Executive Officer SCAN Health Plan

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