I can only speak on the Long Beach arts district near Ocean & Alamitos/Bixby area perspective of the homeless issue - it seems the homeless who are younger with a sense of reality usually pass through, others who are perma-fried from mental issues or all the drugs & alcohol mixed with anti-psychotics seem to stick around & cause recurring trouble along with leaving trash everywhere they squat. You can go in pretty much any alleyway and see human feces. I’ve lived here for 5 years now and it hasn’t improved at all, once a homeless regular was flashing people his penis randomly, police were called & the first question police asked was “did you feel offended?” and proceeded to list the reasons why it would be a lot of work to press charges, and time to go to court etc., basically saying it’s not worth making an issue out of it. These police officers knew the homeless man by nickname. I still see this homeless man often. I have seen a homeless person overdose on my steps, syringes & bloody razors left behind, defecation in carpeted apartment closed hallways, purse snatchers, breaking into next door apartments & cars. This is common for big cities that are growing constantly, but there are homeless people who need shelter and help, in order to help themselves, and then there are homeless people who need mental sanctuary, then there are homeless who refuse to abide by shelter rules & curfew regulations and they get kicked out or put in jail, then right back onto the street - these are the homeless that need attention in order to make Long Beach a nicer community. On a side note, there should be a way to enforce owners to pick up after their dogs, that issue is getting ridiculous.

If they put up these buildings they need to put up parking, affordable, accessible. Don't want this city to turn into an unaffordable place, which seems like it already is.  We don't want the Angles here... we need to make this place not only bike friendly but low income friendly too.  I don't have any brilliant ideas about the homeless.... discussion and community building for us is needed to have brilliant decisions... count me in.

Long Beach is a progressive community.  We have passion for the homeless, but it is really a national problem.  Sea level?  Thats a global issue.  We now have homes  close to sea level where  extensive measures  are required to get building permits.  I have seen boarded up homes, and apartments condemmed.  Things aren't getting worse.  They are changing.  I really love riding those electric scooters.  

Simple answer NO we live near Bixby Park. We talk with many homeless men & women. The homeless issue doesn’t deal with the fact. Most of the homeless are living as a choice. Not wanting to go to shelters or take action to live in housing. 

The problems compile into each other.  Unaffordable housing and poor job salaries will always cause a massive homelessness challenge in Southern California.  The so-called rent control in place only allows for housing to be more unaffordable.  Our cities continue to be plagued with homeless people, unclean cities (including all of SouthBay), higher crime rates, filthy beaches, it goes on and on.  This is a crisis in or State, not just Long Beach.  No one is really doing a great job correcting this situation.  It's like BP trying to clean up their oil spills.... stop masking the problem and come up with real solutions on fixing it to not be a problem any longer. 

LB City Hall is handling these problems in its usual bungling fashion.

We need to do two things.  1) Get our priorities straight.  Instead of spending money on bike lanes and roundabouts, how about more money for mental health, saving our trees and ocean, police etc.  Seems like we spend money on things that benefit a few instead of all.  2) If you really want to impact the homelessness situation you need to triage.  Throwing more housing and money at it doesn't get to the root of the issue.  Without laws that give authorities the ability to step in and truly help each individuals on what they need most...we won't be able to solve this issue.  There must be a way to access their need to provide medical and mental health to those that require it to get well, resources to those that want to get off the street and are able to function, and accountability for those that "choose" the lifestyle.  It's ridiculous how restricted the laws are for law and health professionals.  The issue here is that more rights are given to those that can't handle the responsibility, abuse it or deserve it.   Very much like the foster care system...more rights are given to the adult than the child.  And that is how a child ends up spending their entire life in the system.  I'm sorry but if a parent has a record of child abuse or neglect and time after time they continue to screw it up...they don't deserve any right to keep that child in a roundabout dysfunctional system of "care".  

Homelessness and the housing crisis go hand in hand. The lack of affordable housing coupled with NIMBYism in areas where affordable housing should be available have caused many of the issues present in Long Beach currently. We can’t keep the affordable housing contained to downtown and Westside areas because HUD is required to spread the vouchers/tax credits affordable housing runs off of to all areas of a city. People need to change their mindset and stop making Long Beach into an exclusive city before we have government mandated solutions to our present issues 

Long Beach is not handling its housing, homelessness, climate change-sea level problems well. Housing is a regulation and tax issue. Homelessness is a local issue which can be handled via tax and regulation reform. Climate change-sea level problems are still unfounded but need to be addressed, preferably via the private sector by those owning properties affected. To make headway in solving these problems Long Beach can reform regulations by simplifying the rules and requirements, responding within 24 hours to any application, and requiring positive results rather than specifying compliance steps. Tax reform will also move to provide incentives for resolving these issues. For example, anyone making less than $100,000 per year will pay no tax (no income tax, no sales tax, no property tax whether state or federal or local). Savings are not taxed. And everyone else pays 10% maximum (total of all state, federal, and local taxes). Government (federal, state, or local) will need to adjust, just as taxpayers have needed to adjust to living within their means. Finally, all multifamily housing needs to provide at least one unit for low-income housing.

After re-reading everyones' comments, an idea came to mind. maybe for the homeless that don't want help we should find a camp ground where they can live, pitch their tents & have certain freedoms. have bathrooms, trash pick-up & an overseer to make sure it doesn't turn into a place that breeds horror & health issues.  Use buildings that are vacant & turn them into housing for those that do want help. I know it sounds crazy & probably wouldn't work but it's a thought.