City Council to vote on a rarity: building affordable housing in wealthier areas of Long Beach

Long Beach leaders on Tuesday will consider decisions related to two different affordable housing projects that share a unique quality: They are both located in affluent areas of the city.

This is somewhat of a rarity in Long Beach — and has been an ongoing source of criticism.

The city was chastised by the state for not including enough affordable housing in “high resource” areas in a required zoning document submitted in 2021, and also, for a short time, fell out of compliance with the state in the first draft of its Housing Element because it did not make room for enough new total housing.

The city’s imbalance of affordable housing across geographic regions exists because of “hateful and rampant NIMBY-ism from East Long Beach,” Elsa Tung, a housing advocate, said at a Planning Commission meeting Feb. 1. “We have seen the unjust densification of the most dense parts of the city, while East Long Beach remains suburbanized and untouched.”

Data presented at a recent community meeting in March about one of the new affordable projects up for debate this week quantified the problem.

Council District 1 in the Downtown area has by far the most number of affordable housing units, with 1,105 units built and another 421 that have been approved.

Council District 6 in Central Long Beach and Council District 8 in North Long Beach have the second and third most, respectively, with more than 1,200 units combined.

Meanwhile, districts 3, 4 and 5 in East Long Beach have — combined — just 151 affordable units, with another 170 in the pipeline.

One of the projects in that pipeline is an already-approved 73-unit affordable complex in District 3 near the Traffic Circle, in place of a now-vacant building that once provided mental health services to youth. The city’s Community Investment Company purchased the property in 2018.

Plans for the project were approved last June, and the developer, Linc Housing, expects to break ground in early 2025.

The City Council on Tuesday, however, will be asked to ratify a 3-2 vote by the Planning Commission on Feb. 1 in favor of a zoning change that will allow for more density in that part of town.

The second decision to be made this week relates to a project in Cal Heights, which is now part of Council District 5.

The city purchased the property at 1131 E. Wardlow Road in January, and the City Council will now be asked to declare it as surplus for the construction of affordable housing. West Hollywood Community Housing Corporation is proposing 100 units to be built there, but plans have yet to be approved.

Separately on Tuesday, the Community Investment Company will consider awarding a contract to the West Hollywood contractor for demolition of the existing structure, which housed various grocery stores decades ago.

The project has sparked concern from some residents who have worried it will harm the character of the historic Cal Heights neighborhood, which is zoned mostly for single-family homes.

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