The City of Long Beach counted 3,595 people experiencing homelessness in January 2025 — the highest number in over a decade.

​

Of those, 2,606 were completely unsheltered — living on the streets, in cars, RVs, and tents.

Here’s what’s most frustrating: The city claims they housed over 1,500 to 1700, people last year alone. Yet despite that, the number of people living on the streets keeps growing.

​

The city has already spent over $135 million on homelessness programs since 2020.

If we actually wanted to house everyone currently on the streets, the cost would likely run between $500 million to over $1 billion in capital costs alone — on top of what we’re already spending. Long Beach simply does not have that kind of money, especially while facing a $60 to $80 million structural deficit.

​

Every other candidate running for mayor is proposing to do more of the same — reclassifying homeless people, providing more acute care, building more housing, and spending even more money. These are the same strategies the city has been using for years, with no signs of success, and with an immense amount of fraud.

I am the only candidate proposing a different, common-sense approach:

​

- Declare a state of emergency

​

- Activate the National Guard and civil engineers to rapidly build emergency shelters and medical facilities

​

- Audit every nonprofit we fund and stop paying those that aren’t delivering results

​

- Enforce our laws and prioritize help for those who actually want it

​

Spending hundreds of millions more on the same failed system is not compassionate — it’s irresponsible.

Long Beach, if you had a drug addicted, psychotic family member living at home with your loved ones. You would offer all the help you could, but you wouldn't tolerate dangerous behavior. At some point you would have to consider the safety of your other loved ones.

Sometimes, tough love means you show them the door and ask them to leave. I see this situation play out almost every day on patrol. We are in this exact situation at a larger scale.

​

We have to prioritize the safety of our Long Beach family first and protect them from becoming victims. The choice is yours...

​

Joshua Rodriguez

Candidate for Mayor of Long Beach

​

Sources:

2025 Point-in-Time Homeless Count: https://www.longbeach.gov/.../long-beach-point-in.../...

​

City spending on homelessness: https://www.nbclosangeles.com/.../long-beach.../3714096/...

​

Structural deficit: City of Long Beach 2025 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR)