{"id":430339,"date":"2026-08-12T02:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430339\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T02:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T02:40:14","slug":"long-beach-says-the-fence-around-its-library-is-working-a-homelessness-committee-isnt-convinced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/430339\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Beach says the fence around its library is working. A homelessness committee isn\u2019t convinced"},"content":{"rendered":"

This\u00a0story<\/a>\u00a0first appeared on\u00a0Long Beach Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A $790,000 fence recently installed around Long Beach\u2019s main library is drawing renewed criticism<\/a> from a group of residents who advise the city on homelessness policy.<\/p>\n

In a letter sent last week<\/a>, the Homeless Services Advisory Committee said the money could have been better spent sheltering people rather than driving their encampments away from the Billie Jean King Main Library at the heart of downtown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis amount of $800,000, if dedicated to services for homeless individuals, would shelter a minimum of 10 people for a year,\u201d the committee wrote in a letter to the City Council and Mayor Rex Richardson.<\/p>\n

Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n

Sign up for Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course from LAist that explains the obstacles around housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better.<\/p>\n

Committee members have said they were caught off guard when the fence went up in March<\/a>, and they\u2019ve asked to be consulted on any similar projects in the future.<\/p>\n

Volunteers on the committee are appointed by the mayor and council to advise them on homelessness, but, in this case, they\u2019ve found themselves at odds.<\/p>\n

City officials say the fence was a necessary step to restore the library\u2019s ability to hold events on its outdoor terrace, which was often crowded with tents and people\u2019s belongings. And despite its cost to install, it\u2019s started to save the city money, according to city spokesperson Kat Schuster.<\/p>\n

Before, the city had to power-wash around the library daily, but that\u2019s no longer necessary, Schuster wrote in an email. She said that\u2019s saved an estimated $70,000 this fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A worker powerwashing the ground outside the Billie Jean King Main Library in downtown Long Beach as unhoused people who were camped in the area look on Friday, July 7, 2023.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Brandon Richardson<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Long Beach Post<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also been a drastic decline in encampments and a drop in the number of police and fire calls at the library, according to Schuster. Fewer people are also being kicked out of the library for rowdy or disruptive behavior, she added.<\/p>\n

From April through July this year, only 28 people have been temporarily banned from the library compared to 67 during those same months last year.<\/p>\n

In 2022, the library even had to shut down temporarily<\/a> because of safety concerns among staff. It reopened with increased security, but remained a drain on public safety resources.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe decision to fence the Billie Jean King Main Library terrace restored the space to its intended purpose as a safe, welcoming area for children, families and library programming,\u201d Mayor Richardson said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\"Items,<\/p>\n

Personal items are left on the outside of the fence at the Billie Jean King Main Library in Long Beach on Monday, Aug. 10, 2026.<\/p>\n

(<\/p>\n

Thomas R. Cordova<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

Long Beach Post<\/p>\n

)<\/p>\n

Advisory committee members, however, worried the city could turn to this tactic more frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs the City of Long Beach prepares to host high-profile events related to the L.A. 2028 Olympics, pressure will increase on city officials to address encampments of unsheltered individuals,\u201d they wrote in their letter.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, homelessness continues to rise in Long Beach \u2014 up 3.7% this year<\/a> \u2014 and the city is under pressure to cut its expenses to close a $58 million budget gap<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese reductions are likely to have severe consequences for people experiencing homelessness, as more than 2,000 individuals are already living on the streets and in vehicles, and our city currently has an average five-month placement wait time for those who request shelter,\u201d the advisory committee wrote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This\u00a0story\u00a0first appeared on\u00a0Long Beach Post. A $790,000 fence recently installed around Long Beach\u2019s main library is drawing renewed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[171109,818,18025,969,1493,171110,35921,47369,131,133,132,14397],"class_list":["post-430339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-billie-jean-king-main-library","tag-downtown","tag-fence","tag-homeless","tag-homelessness","tag-how-much-was-the-fence-at-the-library","tag-library","tag-lincoln-park","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news","tag-unhoused"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430339","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430339"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430339\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430339"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430339"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430339"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}