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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
RESOLUTION NO.
A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF LONG BEACH PROCLAIMING THE EXISTENCE
OF A LOCAL EMERGENCY CAUSED BY CO NDITIONS
AND THREATENED CONDITIONS OF HOMELESSNESS
WITHIN THE CITY OF LONG BEACH , WHICH I F NOT
CORRECTED, CONSTITUTES A N IMMINENT AND
PROXIMATE THREAT TO TH E SAFETY OF PERSONS
AND PROPERTY IN THE CITY
WHEREAS, Long Beach Municipal Code section 2.69.060.B. provides that the City Manager may request the City Council to declare the existence and threatened existences of a loca l emergency as a result of any occurrence which, by reason of its magnitude, is or is likely to become beyond the control of the norma l services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of the City; and
WHEREAS, California Senate Bill 330, approved b y the Go vernor on October 09, 2019, provided that California has a housing supply and affordability crisis of historic proportions, where “[t]he consequences of failing to effectively and aggressively confront this crisis are hurting millions of California ns, robbing future generations of the chance to call California home , stifling economic opportunities for workers and businesses, worsening poverty and homelessness , and undermining the state’s environmental and climate objectives”;
WHEREAS, the California legislature has acknowledged the importance of combating homeles sness and the crisis of housing supply which is supported by California Labor Code Section 1720(c)(4) where prevailing wage rates do not apply to the construction of rehabilitation of afforda ble hous ing units for low or moderate income persons;
RES-23-0004
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
WHEREAS, in efforts to co mbat the housing cris is, the Ca lifornia Legislature has recognized that local governments play a key role in the development of affordable housing , evidenced by California Government Co de Section 65584, which mandates California citi es, towns and counties to undertake all necessary actions to promote and facilitate the development of housing for its residents, for all income levels; and
WHEREAS, in conjunction with the State’s d irectives to combat homelessness and address the housing crisis, the City of L ong Beach has designated significant resources to address homelessness in the City , but the threat to life and property remains at stake beyond the control of the services, perso nnel, equipment, and facilities of this City, requiring the combi ned forces of other political subdivisions to combat this crisis; and
WHEREAS, th e City of Long Beach (City) has at any given time approximately 3,300 people experiencing homelessness Citywide; and WHEREAS, according to City’s 2022 Point in Time Co unt, the number of people experiencing homelessness in the City increased dramatically in recent years, with an overall rise in homelessness of 77 percent since 2017; and WHEREAS, homelessness has disproportionately impac ted Black, Indigenous, and Pacific Islan der Long Beach re sidents who are approximately three times more likely to experience homel essness than other populations. Black people comprise only 13 percent of the popul ation of the City but, in the most recent homelessness count , completed in February 2022, accounted for appro ximately 36 percent of people experiencing homelessness; and
WHEREAS, more than 40% of people exp eriencing homelessness ha ve experienced violence or trauma in their lives, and 6% were flee ing violence when t hey became homeless; and
WHEREAS, the numbe r of veterans experiencing homelessness has grown by 48% since 2019; and
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
WHEREAS, people experiencin g homelessness suffer dis proportionately from mental and physical health ailments and require assistance from the Co unty Health and Mental Health Depar tments to provide the nec essary public service s. Specifically, it is estimated that 31 percent of people experiencing homelessness in the City are affected by a chronic health condition, 29 percent are affected by substan ce abuse, 37 percent are affected b y a serious mental illnes s, 36 percent are aff ected by phys ical disabilities, 23 percent ar e affected by devel opmental disabilities, and 24 percent are affected by traumatic brain injuries. The number of people experiencing homelessness with severe mental illness has more than doub led to 1,200 people and those with a substance use disorder has increased by 70% to 950 peo ple. This strains the City ’s ability to provide appropriate shelter, housing and wrap -around services. The prevalence of extreme need significantly stresses the City’s public services; and
WHEREAS, 101 people experiencing homele ssness died in 2022 while living on the street. The average age of those who died while homeless was 47 years old and over 75% of the causes of death wer e unnatural. This represents a drastic 225% increase in comparison to the number of people who died in 2017; and WHEREAS, notwithstanding that the State of California ha s enacted a Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowermen t (CARE) Court to address the crisis of untreated mental illness, the beds and necessary access to acute and subacute care for mental illness is still in development and steps must be taken in the interim to provide increased access to housing and care; and
WHEREAS, the homelessness cr isis has strained the City’s public safety resources. Among other things, occurrences of fires related to homelessness have doubled between 2019 and 2022, and now c onstitute over one-third of all fires to w hich the Long Beach Fire Department responds. In a ddition, a number of fires have taken significant fire resources and caused damage to adjacent structures and vehicles; and WHEREAS, th e homelessness crisis confron ting the City has grown both incrementally and exponenti ally, leading to death, illness, and deplorable living 4 AL:kd A22-03808 (12-28-2022)
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
conditions; and
WHEREAS, shelter and housing is particularly important during these coming winter months when people experiencing homelessness in the City are likely to face heightened ex posure and dangers from living outdoors, and heigh tened dangers from the combination of COVI D-19, flu outbreak and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). It is projected that the City will face an acute shortage of win ter homeless shelters through March 2023, with fewer than half the number of shelter sites a vailable in the County of Los Angeles as in the winter of 2021-2022 and nearly two-thirds fewer shelter beds; and WHEREAS, California Government Code Sections 8698.1 and 8698.2 allow local jurisdictions to declare a shelter crisis; the City of L ong Beach’s most recent shelter crisis is set to expire March 31, 2023; and
WHEREAS, the County and State’s eviction moratoriu m, which has protected many Long Beach residents fro m falling into homelessness, ends concu rrently with t he end of California’s St ate of Emergency regarding the COVID -19 pandemic on February 1, 2023; and
WHEREAS, the State of California’s COVID -19 State of Emergency , which has provided resources to keep many Long Beach residents from f alling into homelessness, ends in February of 2023 , thus requiring immediate action in order to create re placement and additional housing and shelter, and in order t o support the necessary infrastructure and laws req uired to protect and provide that shelte r and housing; and
WHEREAS, the displacemen t of the number of people living on the streets of the City tod ay is a daily recurring emergency, empowering the City Coun cil to declare a state of emergency, no less than if the emergency was caused by an earthqu ake, fire, or flood; and
WHEREAS, the City’ s abili ty to mobilize local resources, coordinate interagency response, accelerate procurement of housing units, use mutual aid, and seek assistance and potential reimbursement by the State and Federal governments will be 5 AL:kd A22-03808 (12-28-2022)
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
critical to successfully responding to this homelessness crisis; and WHEREAS, during the pendency of the existence of a local emergency, the City Council shall retain its full authority to consider a variety of City ordinances to codify the measures necessary to address this homelessness crisis; and WHEREAS, the City expanded interim bed access by 5 35 beds since 2020; there are currently more than 1,300 interim housing beds c itywide and the City Council continues to prioritize the building of interim and permanent supporting housing, yet need continues to outpace demand; and
WHEREAS, the City projects it w ill soon have a total of 15,346 supportive and affordable uni ts, of which 1,546 h ave been recently completed, 319 are currently under construction, and more than 500 are in pre-development; and WHEREAS, notwithstanding that Council has been and is acting with urgency, including implementing a roadmap to house thousa nds of Long Beach residents and building an unprecedented number of supportive housing unit s and shelter beds, an emergency declaration is necessary to mobilize resources, save lives, and provide for the public health, welfare, and safety of all; and
WHEREAS, the City has res ponded to the rapid increase in its homeless population with unpreceden ted investment s into homelessness solutions, including a more than $80 million commitment in the 2022 -2023 City budget for the expansion of bridge housing, an addit ional Restorative En gagement to Achieve Collective Health (REACH) team, call takers, librar y outreach wor kers, two mobile MSC units, a mental health and substa nce use treatment van, a winter shelter partnership, and the hiring of professionals to address the homelessness cris is and, notwithstanding these effo rts, the number of those experiencing homelessness in the City continue s to increase and outstrip the resources and services that the City has provided; and WHEREAS, the magnitude of loss of l ife, the persistent and disproportionate impact of the COVID -19 pandemic, and the persistent discrimi natory impacts of a lack of housin g warrant and necessitate that the City Counci l declare the 6 AL:kd A22-03808 (12-28-2022)
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
existence of a local emergency; and
WHEREAS, the benefits of this emergency declaration, co upled with past and future actions by the City Council to address the h omelessness cr isis, will help ensure that this local emergency will be of a temporary nature; NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Long Beach resolves as follows:
Section 1. Pursuant to California Government Code Section 8630 and Long Beach Municipal Code Section 2.69.0 60, the City Council hereby finds and proclaims the existence of a lo cal emerg ency caused by conditions or threatened conditions of homelessness in Long Beach which, if no t corrected, constitutes a threat to the safety of persons and property within the te rritorial limits of the City beyond the control of the services, personnel equipment, and facilities of the City.
Section 2. The City Manager is hereby authorized to furnish informat ion, to enter into agreements, including, but not limited to, applicati ons and agreem ents for grant fundi ng, and to take all actions necessary to obtain e mergency assistance from State and federal agencies to implement preventive measures to protect and pr eserve the City wi thin the scope o f the local emergency hereby declared . Chapter 2.85 of the Long Beach M unicipal Code contains the established procurement practices of the City during a proclaimed local emergency. City staff are hereby directed to provide the City Council with a report of actio ns taken under this Section as the next practicable opportunity, and no less than on a monthly basis.
Section 3. The City shall coordinate its efforts to address t his proclaimed emergency with the other local jurisdictions, the County of Los Angeles, the Stat e of California, and the federal government.
Section 4. The C ity of Long Beach reque sts the Governor and State Legislature to declare a s tate of emergency to combat homele ssness and direct resources to support the efforts of major cities in the State of Califor nia to address the problem.
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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY
DAWN MCINTOSH, City Attorney
411 West Ocean Boulevard, 9th Floor
Long Beach, CA 90802-4664
Section 5. In accordance wit h th e provisions of Long Beach Mun icipal Code Chapter 2.69, the City Clerk shall include the matter of the necessity for continuing the local emergency on the City Council agenda for review at least every fourte en (14) days until the City Co uncil ter minates said local emergency . The need t o continue the state of emergency shall be eval uated, in coordination with City Council , by achieving measurable results in the following metrics:
A. Decrease in number of persons experiencing unsheltered homelessness;
B. Increase in housing placements;
C. Increase in starts on new affordable housing options; D. Increase in temporary and permanent housing units (including utilization of Housing Choice Vouchers);
E. Increase in outside aid for access to mental health and substance use beds;
F. Decrease in disproportionality in which Black, Indigenous and Pacific Islander persons experience homelessness;
G. Decrease in number of persons that die in unsheltered situations;
H. Decrease in number of persons falling into homelessness; I. Increase in regional partnershi ps to address the home less crisis; and
J. Increase in multijurisdictional efforts to reduce violence on or perpetuated by people experiencing homelessness.
Section 6. This Proclamation of Emergency shall sunset in One Hundred Eighty (180) days from the date of adopti on, subject to being renewed. The settin g of a specific time frame allows for actions t o be taken to make permanent, necessary structural changes.
Section 7. Pursuant to Government Code section 3100, in protection of 1 2
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28 the health and safety and preservation of the lives and property of the people from emergencies which result in conditions of extreme peril to life, property and resources, all public employees are hereby declared disaster service workers subject to such disaster service activities as may be assigned to them by their superiors or by law.
Section 8. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage of this resolution by· the City Council of the City of Long Beach and it shall thereupon take effect.
Section 9. This resolution shall take effect immediately upon its adoption by the City Council, and the City Clerk shall certify the vote adopting this resolution.
I hereby certify that the foregoing resolution was adopted by the City Council of the City of Long Beach at its meeting of January 1 O , 2023 by the following vote:
Ayes:
Noes:
Absent:
councilmembers: Zendejas, Allen, Duggan, Supernaw,
Kerr, Saro, Austin, Ricks-Oddie.
Councilmembers: None.
Councilmembers: Uranga.
Recusal(s): Councilmembers: None.
AL:kd A22-03808 (12-28-2022)
revised resolution.doc
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