Long Beach to add new tiny homes, Project Homekey housing

The city of Long Beach is set to get new modular homes and a new Project Homekey hotel-to-housing conversion as part of an effort to add more affordable and permanent housing options.

The Long Beach City Council approved a proposal on Tuesday to build up to 35 tiny homes using $5.6 million from a $30.3 million state grant to support the construction of new interim housing in the city, according to the Long Beach Press-Telegram. 

The tiny homes will be built at Long Beach’s Multi-Service Center — a public health department that offers social services, including medical care, housing assistance, transportation and addiction treatments. 

At the same meeting, the city also approved a contract with drug and alcohol rehab center First to Serve Outreach Ministries to allow the center to operate an existing motel as a new housing facility. 

The city purchased the motel — 68,000-square-foot Luxury Inn of Long Beach at 5950 Long Beach Boulevard — for $16.5 million, most of which used funding from the state’s Project Homekey effort. 

Under Project Homekey, the state provided localities with grant funding to acquire and convert existing motels into housing for those experiencing homelessness. In 2021, the state allocated $4.8 billion in grants for the program, which will be distributed as grants to cities through this year. 

Long Beach will pay $2.2 million to First to Serve and an additional $4.7 million to finish repairs at the motel — everything from upgrading laundry and common areas to electrical systems. About half of that will be funded by the city’s general fund, the rest from the Project Homekey grant. 

— Isabella Farr