Everyone Home Task Force
From Brian D’Andrea,
Senior Vice President,
Century Housing Corporation
December 11 was a historic night in our collective effort to end homelessness in Long Beach. Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia and City Council received a report of the Everyone Home Task Force, a collection of business leaders, affordable housing developers, advocates, diverse stakeholders and City staff, appointed by the Mayor and chaired by CSULB President Jane Close Conoley. The Task Force met five times over the course of six months, including once at the Villages at Cabrillo, and developed specific goals for the City to achieve over the next five years, along with a set of policy recommendations to enable those goals. Among the primary goals outlined were securing $25 million in ongoing funding for supportive services, obtaining $220 million in capital funding, creating 2,000 very low or low-income housing units by 2023, and generating 600 jobs with a living wage for homeless or precariously housed adults by 2021.
I’m proud to have represented Century and our Long Beach team on this important Task Force. Many thanks to Rene Castro for testifying on behalf of Century on the night of the hearing. The Mayor and several Council members stated enthusiastically during the 3-hour hearing that “CVC is the model” for serving people who have suffered homelessness. Century is proud to engage in efforts like this and we will continue to advocate with our partners and on behalf of our most vulnerable.
You can watch the hearing here.
The Task Force report is linked here.
With this baseline data in hand, coupled with a set of actionable goals and policy recommendations, our efforts will turn to implementing the public policy initiatives outlined in the report, including the establishment of a dedicated local source of revenue. Thank you all for the work you do that contributes to our ability to serve as the model referenced by our Mayor!
