Long Beach will receive nearly $24 million in Los Angeles County Measure A money for homelessness prevention, affordable housing development and more. During this week’s meeting, the City Council unanimously approved a deal with a Los Angeles County affordable housing agency, as well as agreements with the county, to accept and spend the funding.
The city has already outlined how it would spend the allocated funds through its fiscal year 2026 budget, which the council approved earlier this month.
The investment plan, dubbed “Upstream LB,” will tackle three main categories: homelessness prevention, crisis response and pathways out of homelessness, with a specific focus on communities most likely to become homeless, including seniors, at-risk youth and communities impacted by recent federal policy.
“We’re proud that Long Beach is actually the first city to put forward a comprehensive plan,” Mayor Rex Richardson said during the Tuesday, Sept. 23, meeting. “Of all the funded jurisdictions across the county, we’re the first jurisdiction to plan how we will use these dollars to create the biggest impact, and it was adopted through our budget.”
Homelessness and the housing crisis are a regional challenge, Richardson said, and no city can solve it alone. When exploring solutions, elected officials across the region decided to create a new agency to close the gap on housing production – which is now the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, also known as LACAHSA.
In 2022, the California Legislature passed state Senate Bill 679, which created LACAHSA, with the purpose of increasing the supply of affordable housing by providing enhanced funding and technical assistance at a regional level for renter protections, affordable housing preservation and new affordable housing production, according to a staff report.
In June, LACAHSA approved the annual expenditure plan, which includes allocations for each eligible jurisdiction, including Long Beach, and established an estimate of funds that the agency would receive throughout the year. Cities can use funding in three ways: production, preservation and ownership; renter protection and homelessness prevention; and technical assistance.
The money comes from LA County Measure A, a half-cent sales tax that was approved by voters in 2024. A little more than one-third of the revenues generated by Measure A is directed to LACAHSA. The agency, in turn, must pass 70% of the funding to eligible jurisdictions, according to a staff report.
Two other administrators of Measure A funding include the LA County Development Authority and the LA County Chief Executive Office – for Local Solutions and Comprehensive Homeless Solutions funds.
“All three sources will provide a combined total of $24 million to help us meet the key outcomes in homelessness prevention, crisis response and pathways out of homelessness,” April Apodaca, financial controls officer for Long Beach, said during the council meeting.
In Long Beach’s MOU with LACAHSA, Apodaca said, the 2025-26 annual expenditure plan allocates more than $10.7 million for proposed activities and programs such as creating affordable homes, Right to Council, rental assistance, youth flexible financial support, shallow subsidy, homeless prevention and the Long Beach Housing Promise.
City staff will also return to the Budget Oversight Committee in January to provide an update on any changes to guidelines or outcomes, Apodaca added.
The City Council approved the MOU agreement with an 8-0 vote and will be submitted to LACAHSA by Oct. 1, according to city staffers. The panel also approved having the Long Beach Community Investment Company serve as the loan committee assigned to review and approve agreements with affordable housing developers and homeowners for the production, preservation and ownership portions of funding.
“This is really going to be one of the biggest boosts that we have into housing and helping to keep people housed,” City Manager Tom Modica said, “since we lost tools like redevelopment and in fact this provides even more flexibility than some of those older tools did.”