Ahead of the June primary election, the Southern California News Group compiled a list of questions to pose to the candidates who wish to represent you. You can find the full questionnaire below. Questionnaires may have been edited for spelling, grammar, length and, in some instances, to remove hate speech and offensive language.

Name: Tamika Wagner-Osio

Current job title: Executive Director/Business Owner

Age: 51

Incumbent: No

Other political positions held: Sworn Commissioner & Board Co-Chair, Long Beach Continuum of Care for Homelessness

City where you reside: Long Beach

Campaign website or social media: tamikawagnerosio.com

One of the main issues local leaders are grappling with is Long Beach’s current and long-term fiscal position. With major budgetary concerns on the horizon, explain your top priorities for Long Beach’s financial future and plans to achieve them. (Please answer in 200 words or less.)

Long Beach is facing a $60 million to $80 million budget shortfall going into FY2027. With an approved budget of $3.2 billion, I would push for spending accountability that keeps blank checks out of the hands of politicians who have not utilized funding to address the needs of the city as a whole.

My priorities for Long Beach’s financial future are to prioritize spending for public safety, housing stability and improving the city’s infrastructure. Long Beach needs performance-based reporting for publicly funded organizations and projects with earlier interventions for organizations that are underperforming.

I have worked with government contracts, funding, audit monitoring, budgets and program operations, and I understand that every dollar must be tied to measurable outcomes.

Long Beach residents have been sounding the alarm about the presence of federal immigration enforcement agents and operations in the city. Where do you stand on ICE/CBP actions, and how to plan to address residents’ concerns about this issue? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)

I stand with all of my neighbors living in daily fear of ICE presence and raids throughout our city. Children need to know that they are safe and parents need to be blessed to earn an honest living as they have been doing for decades. Our minority and undocumented families deserve access to services and shouldn’t have to second-guess reaching out to access assistance for fear their identities may tip off ICE and lead to family separation.

I operate programs that are assisting undocumented families with housing stability, food insecurity and low access to resources and implement operational policies and practices that protect the identities and locations of undocumented persons at all times. We have implemented encrypted communications for all company emails and text communication, as well as limited unnecessary access to sensitive information that may expose digital information. These are practices that need to be adopted at the agency level to protect and reduce ICE exposure.

Homelessness and affordable housing continue to be a top issue for Long Beach residents. What is your position on the city’s current efforts to reduce homelessness and increase affordable housing availability, and how do you plan to improve these efforts? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)

I’m very proud of Long Beach’s expansion of new permanent supportive housing units. However, the city has not done enough to address the rising homeless population throughout the city. Expanding shelter beds that don’t impede residential neighborhoods is a start, but that’s a band-aid, not a permanent solution.

Our unsheltered neighbors are on the streets for a variety of reasons, and there is no one-size-fits-all solution. The city needs community action teams to engage and conduct assessments in the streets, not just once a year. The community action team should determine if the person is in need of police, medical or mental health intervention. Our police and fire departments are not mental health specialists and case managers, nor should their jobs be treated as such.

We can cut homeless spending significantly, as my organization has done by implementing data tracking, outcomes and cost allocations tied to length of stay in shelters and realistic housing plans at intake, which has saved millions in spending.

We can seek and utilize existing state funding, which 99% of homeless persons are already eligible for, and save the funding in Long Beach’s budget set aside to address homelessness and allocate it to other areas where the city has needs.

What is the biggest issue your district specifically faces, and how do you plan to address it, if elected? (Please answer in 200 words or less.)

The biggest issues I see in District 1 are public safety, homelessness and small business stability and longevity.

These are not competing priorities in my eyes, but ones that are all interconnected. Homelessness impacts public safety, and when residents, tourists, customers, business owners and their employees don’t feel safe to come out, work, shop, eat and enjoy our thriving community, it impacts the economic stability of District 1.

District 1 is the heart of the city where people come to “see Long Beach,” and yet we are seeing business closures at a record pace and a rise in assaults, robberies and vandalism. Moving our neighbors from the sidewalks and in front of our downtown library, to shelters and mental health facilities equipped to deal with their needs and permanent supportive housing, will begin to instill trust in our city government. Businesses can increase foot traffic, our police departments can focus on the real tasks of keeping our city safe and our vulnerable unhoused will get the services they need.

Increasing linkages to existing programs where costs are covered through state-mandated programs will save Long Beach millions that will be allocated to improving city infrastructure and small business resources to give opportunities to local residents who would then be given priority, along with other local business owners, to opportunities at the upcoming Olympic events in 2028.

Mandate spending accountability, milestone tracking and auditing to identify the rate of spending. There is a lot of work to be done, and 200 words isn’t enough to list it out.

What experience do you bring to the table for this role? (Please limit your answer to 200 words or less.)

I am the executive director and founder of a nonprofit shelter program providing temporary emergency shelter to homeless families. I am also a local small business owner in District 1 and the Long Beach CoC for Homeless Co-Chair Board Member.

I’ve been at the forefront, advocating for additional social equity business opportunities, taking my fight to City Hall, where I won. Putting keys in the hands of eight new (minority) business owners here in the city of Long Beach when no path for such opportunity existed.

I understand compliance, contracts, budgets, spending allocations and strict audit monitoring and reporting. I have developed a system in use today that provides data, tracking and outcomes — something no one else currently has.

I’m not a career politician or someone who thinks this is something cool to do; I am a practitioner who knows how to get things done. My everyday life involves housing stability, placement, monitoring, reporting, advocating, planning and operations. My local small business retail trading card shop is contributing to the local economy, providing jobs, a family-friendly gathering spot and a local hub for collectors.

District 1 needs leadership that can deliver realistic/real-time solutions, not temporary band-aids, while delivering them at cost savings to the taxpayers of Long Beach. I hope to gain your endorsement and votes.