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Top 10 Stories of 2025: How Long Beach Took on Homelessness
By Staff Writer
Published on Mon, Dec 29, 2025
As 2025 comes to a close, Long Beach is celebrating the accomplishments that helped move the City forward. Among the year’s achievements were significant strides in addressing homelessness—from turning an old nuisance motel into an upgraded interim shelter to creating pathways to housing for individuals living without shelter along the Los Angeles River. The City’s approach focused on safety, stability and long-term solutions.
Turning a Motel Into a Pathway Home
By November, another major housing milestone was reached with the opening of Homekey at 5950, located in the former Luxury Inn at 5950 Long Beach Blvd. It represents the City’s newest interim housing facility under California’s Project Homekey initiative.
The once-vacant motel has been transformed into 78 upgraded units, including 12 ADA-accessible rooms. Each unit features new bathrooms, improved lighting, microwaves, refrigerators and access to on-site laundry. Outdoor improvements include drought-tolerant landscaping, enhanced common areas and ADA-compliant pathways.
Homekey at 5950 provides more than shelter. Residents receive case management, three meals a day, trauma-informed health and safety support, and coordinated referrals to permanent housing. Referrals come through the City’s Multi-Service Center and Mobile Access Center.
Since 2020, Long Beach has increased its year-round shelter capacity by 159%, now offering more than 1,450 beds citywide.
Targeting Encampments Along the Los Angeles River
Earlier in the year, Long Beach received an $11 million grant from the State of California’s Encampment Resolution Funding program to address homelessness along the Los Angeles Riverbed, one of the City’s largest and most persistent encampments.
The 9.5-mile stretch of river running through Long Beach presents unique challenges due to its proximity to the busy freeway and limited access for emergency responders. Data from the 2024 Point in Time Count showed that 92% of people living in the riverbed area had been homeless for a year or longer.
With the funding, the City is expanding targeted outreach, providing immediate interim and emergency shelter options and creating clearer pathways to permanent housing. Efforts are being coordinated in collaboration with Los Angeles County, reflecting the shared jurisdiction over the riverbed.
Long Beach has already seen results from two earlier rounds of ERF funding. Nearly half of participants in the first round secured permanent housing or remain enrolled in the program, while the second round has so far sheltered 64 people and helped 10 transition into permanent homes.
The City’s success has earned statewide recognition, making Long Beach’s Continuum of Care one of only three in California to receive ERF funding three times.
Engaging the Community in Housing Solutions
Beyond bricks and mortar, the City also emphasized public involvement and transparency. In 2025, the City designed and hosted three Community HOME Roadshows, one as part of Westside Fest, another at the Ronald R. Arias Health Equity Center and most recently at the Billie Jean King Main Library. HOME stands for Housing & Homelessness Opportunities, Mobilization and Engagement, supporting the City’s overall approach to addressing the homelessness crisis that is being experienced throughout the State of California and the U.S. Each Roadshow is part of a quarterly public engagement series aimed at educating residents on the root causes of homelessness, highlighting the City’s multi-faceted response and encouraging community participation in discussing long-term solutions. Events feature interactive displays, direct conversations with City staff from multiple departments and opportunities for attendees to share feedback. Insights from each event help inform and shape future housing policies and ensure that solutions reflect the needs of the broader community.
To learn more about the City’s housing policies and upcoming events, visit longbeach.gov/housingpolicies.
A Year Defined by Action
Taken together, 2025 marked a year of progress in Long Beach’s response to homelessness. By pairing immediate shelter and safety with long-term housing strategies and community engagement, the City demonstrated a comprehensive approach to one of its most pressing challenges.
While officials acknowledge that homelessness remains a complex issue without quick fixes, the initiatives launched and expanded this year point to an on-going commitment: meeting people where they are, providing dignity and support, and building pathways toward stable homes.
