Twenty rooms at the newly opened<\/a> shelter at the former Luxury Inn at 5950 Long Beach Blvd. will also be reserved for the riverbed dwellers identified for the program.<\/p>\n The lease is the latest move since the city announced in March a two-year, $17.4 million plan<\/a> \u2014 $11 million coming from a state grant \u2014 to begin housing the roughly 250 people living along the 9.5-mile segment of the L.A. River in city limits.<\/p>\n In a similar program, the city previously spent $2.4 million last year to lease the 60-room Vagabond Inn for a year for those roughing it around the downtown Lincoln Park and Billie Jean King Main Library. In its run, the program sheltered 90 people, 26 of whom moved into permanent housing, while another 27 went to the city shelters.<\/p>\n But whereas the last iteration focused on some of the city\u2019s most visible encampments, this round will focus on its most forlorn.<\/p>\n It\u2019s arguably the city\u2019s most ambitious plan to date, meant to help people who are historically skeptical of government assistance, wary of city shelters and far more self-reliant in their survival. It\u2019s a group who nearly all (92%) reported being homeless for more than a year and about a third who openly admitted to struggling with a mental condition, addiction or chronic illness, according to city data.<\/p>\n The motel is about 1.6 miles from the closest entrance to the river.<\/p>\n Those staying at the motel will be offered voluntary, on-site social services: weekly meetings with case managers, counseling, job placement and assistance in finding cheap, permanent housing.<\/p>\n Proponents of the model believe residents should be persuaded, not forced, to accept social services.<\/p>\n Opponents to the program, meanwhile, say its location is poorly chosen.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re being underserved, we\u2019re being neglected and you are clustering with all these other hotels and these unhoused problems on us,\u201d said Moses Alarcon, who runs a barber shop near the motel.<\/p>\n Following a town hall meeting on Oct. 16, residents and nearby businesses asked City Council members to reconsider the program\u2019s placement, out of fear it will scare away customers, debase the neighborhood and invite criminality.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re trying to build this community up on our own without your help,\u201d Alarcon added. \u201cAnd you\u2019re doing this to us. \u2026 Please reconsider this.\u201d<\/p>\n Some raised the concern that too many city shelters and motel leases are unfairly placed in the city\u2019s poor and working-class neighborhoods and not in the affluent ones.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen cities attempt to place temporary shelters or permanent housing in affluent neighborhoods, they typically face fierce opposition and legal challenges,\u201d resident Lydia Hollie said. \u201cBased on my research, I cannot find any evidence of homeless shelters in the affluent neighborhoods \u2014 Naples, Belmont Shore, Bixby area or near the Cal State Long Beach campus.\u201d<\/p>\n Homeless Bureau Director Paul Duncan said Wednesday there is historical accuracy to that claim. But these days, he added, city shelters exist citywide, in every council district except the 5th District,\u00a0which runs horizontally from East Long Beach past the airport into the Bixby Knolls area. \u201cThat being said, they\u2019re open to it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n But there are few places where the city can find a space cheap and large enough to accommodate their needs, especially in East Long Beach.<\/p>\n \u201cIn certain areas, there\u2019s lots of warehouses, more motels and hotels,\u201d Duncan said. \u201cAnd there\u2019s certain areas of the city where there are fewer hotels (or) motels, fewer warehouse-type buildings that could be converted, and it\u2019s really residential and retail.\u201d<\/p>\n The practice of placing homeless people temporarily in commercial motels is only the latest indication that the city and county are unable to provide shelter for all those who need it.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/29jul24-camps-5-807101-ro3dpned-334060-MY5EzExK-1024x728.jpg\")
<\/a>A man walks past homeless camps on De Forest Avenue against the Los Angeles River in Long Beach, Monday, July 29, 2024. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/10-23-25-motel-0-462217-2zrxqo81-798632-ORmW2vec-1024x503.jpg\")
<\/a>A woman walks up to her room while staying at the Motel 6 in Long Beach, that\u2019s not far from Martin Luther King Jr. Park and the Long Beach City College campus on Pacific Coast Highway, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n