Long Beach Among Places Recognized by White House for Efforts to House Homeless Veterans
Homeless people sleep in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. Jae C. Hong / AP Photo
Mayor Robert Garcia said 657 formerly homeless veterans in the city have obtained housing during the last two years.
Long Beach, California was among the communities recognized at a White House summit on Monday for work to end veterans' homelessness.
Mayor Robert Garcia said 657 formerly homeless veterans in the city have moved into housing during the last two years. The city is a participant in The Mayors Challenge to End Veterans Homelessness, an interagency initiative championed by First Lady Michelle Obama.
During remarks delivered at the White House on Monday, the first lady said 35 communities, including four large cities, along with three states—Virginia, Connecticut and Delaware—have ended veterans homelessness. “Altogether, we have cut veterans’ homelessness nearly in half since 2010,” she said, according to a transcript of her comments.
Long Beach is awaiting an official certification from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development that indicates it has achieved “functional zero” status. This would mean the city has the capacity to provide housing to all homeless veterans who are interested in it.
According to the city, since December 2015, every veteran who has experienced homelessness in Long Beach has been offered a path to permanent housing.
Central to the city’s approach to assisting homeless veterans is a “housing-first model,” which focuses on getting people quick access to housing, regardless of any mental health difficulties or substance abuse problems they may be having.
Long Beach is located on the Pacific coast, about 25 miles south of Los Angeles, and has roughly 474,000 residents.
The Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness began in 2014, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Connecticut Gov. Dannel P. Malloy, a Democrat, was one of the other speakers at Monday’s summit. He said he hoped housing would be part of president-elect Donald Trump’s infrastructure plan.
Mayor John Giles of Mesa, Arizona also spoke.
He said successes his city had seen fighting veterans homelessness were due, in part, to best practices gleaned from other jurisdictions. Mesa has provided permanent housing for 120 homeless veterans since joining The Mayors Challenge, he said.
Dover, Delaware was another city recognized at Monday’s summit.
According to estimates from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 39,471 veterans were homeless in the U.S. this year. Of that total, 13,067 were considered to be “unsheltered.” The total figure went down by 8,254, or 17.3 percent, since 2015.
Bill Lucia is a reporter for Government Executive’s Route Fifty and is based in Washington, D.C.
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