The City of Long beach will begin a count to get an exact number of the homeless people that are living on the streets in their city. Anoushah Rasta reports for the NBC4 News on Jan.25, 2023.
Agencies across Los Angeles County are on a massive mission to find out just how many people are homeless on the streets.
Starting Thursday Long Beach will begin counting how many people are living on the streets to get an exact number and data to help schedule state and federal funding
Some business owners and residents in Long Beach have been frustrated about the homeless crisis for years but they are hopeful because they say Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson is making the homeless crisis a priority.
Just like Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, the Long Beach's mayor also declared a state of emergency on homelessness.
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'I'm just a restaurant owner and he came and met with me, which tells me a lot," said Orsa Modica, a local business owner. "It tells me that he does care the problem."
Small business owners like Modica say she's noticed an uptick in the number of homeless people near her restaurant.
Along with encampments and crime she says make her customers and employees feel unsafe.
"Break-ins, we've had people defecate outside, we've had people come and pick up furniture and think they're going to throw it through the window, walk through the restaurant naked with children on the patio," Modica said.
Joes Harding manages condominium units and commercial properties in Long Beach.
He says that LA Metro is part of the problem, explaining that their trains go out of service in downtown Long Beach where homeless passengers then flood the streets and are left there stranded.
Metro has previously said the policy is not unique to Long Beach and happens at many "end-f-the-line" stops as a way to clear trains before returning them to division yards for maintenance and prepare them for the next day of service.
"People are afraid to go out because they just don't know what they're going to run into when they're out in the streets," Harding said. "We've had a resident that was in the hospital for 11 says in ICU because he was clocked in the head while he was walking his dog."
Thursday the City of Long Beach's Department of Health and Human Services will start a count of the homeless residents with the goal of figuring out just how many people are unhoused and what services they need.
The department says volunteers will also hand-out "gift cards, hygiene kits, and water," during the count.
In a statement to NBC4, Long Beach Councilmember Mary Zendejas says, "The downtown area has been the epicenter for people experiencing homelessness."
But she explains that just two weeks into the emergency response, they have taken important steps like activated a mobile access center, expanded Section 8 voucher assistance and millions of dollars in funding for affordable housing.
Both Modica and Harding say the count is a step in the right direction but they want to see more money go into services for mental health and drug addiction treatment.
