Dear Friend —

Yesterday we joined other city leaders to celebrate the grand opening of Vistas Del Puerto in Central Long Beach. This complex has created 47 new affordable homes in our city for families, our neighbors with chronic health conditions and those who have experienced homelessness. It’s the newest project to be completed after a decade of housing progress.

Throughout the pandemic, we've been constantly reminded how important it is for everyone to have access to affordable housing. Despite challenges both from the pandemic and that existed before, Long Beach has continued to work hard to solve our housing crisis.

These efforts have resulted in our city creating:

• 8,000 new housing units in the pipeline with over 3,500 new units built since I became Mayor,
• A brand new 100% middle-income housing project that’s been approved to replace the former Civic Center site,
• A landmark inclusionary housing policy that will mean new affordable units for Long Beach families, students and seniors,
• Three motel conversions to add nearly 300 units of supportive housing for formerly unhoused residents,
• And an unprecedented $64 million allocated to tenants so families can remain housed despite financial challenges during the pandemic.

These services and development successes are great and reflect the dedicated work of countless people across our city, but they’re also not enough. When it comes to both housing and homelessness, our need remains great. Yesterday morning, people across Long Beach participated in our annual Homeless Point in Time Count to help us identify these gaps and connect people with needed resources.

In recent weeks, the City Council has passed additional housing options for our residents who are experiencing homelessness. We're also continuing to make vouchers, shelter and additional services available to members of our community facing housing insecurity. I’m so proud of this work and committed to engaging with innovative solutions to these critical issues.

These issues remain one of, if not the single biggest challenges facing our community. But thanks to the hard work of people across Long Beach who make projects like this possible, we are continuing to create homes and build a more equitable Long Beach and support our neighbors in need.

Thank you and Go Long Beach,

Mayor Robert Garcia