On any given day, approximately 2,300 people experience homelessness in the City of Long Beach. The City’s Department of Health and Human Services leads the Long Beach Continuum of Care (CoC), which administers housing and support services.
FUSE Fellow Sharon Meron worked with the city and the CoC to design a roadmap that outlines innovative new approaches to combatting homelessness. Among her many milestones was organizing and managing a summit, which brought together stakeholders to actively work on solutions together. She also helped to create a gap analysis of Long Beach’s housing needs, which was a new strategy for the city. Collectively, Meron’s work has led to an overall better understanding of stakeholders’ roles in addressing homelessness, and a broadening of the conversation to include more stakeholders who handle housing, hospitals, police, jail, and foster care services.
