November 04, 2022

Long Beach to Launch First-Time Homebuyer Assistance Program in Early 2023

The city launched a new website for the First-Time Homebuyer Assistance Program, which will launch in early 2023. The program will give grants to 100 eligible families, up to $20,000 in down payment and closing cost assistance. The program is estimated to cost about $3 million and is funded through the Long Beach Recovery Act.



Applicants must be first-time homebuyers and meet a variety of eligibility requirements, including holding U.S. citizenship or having the right to permanently reside in the United States. Anyone wishing to apply must also live within a federal Community Development Block Grant designated census tract in Long Beach with a household income that does not exceed 150% of the Los Angeles County area median income.

For more information, please click HERE

Long Beach’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Program will Start Taking Applications this Month

Long Beach’s guaranteed income pilot program, the Long Beach Pledge, is set to begin accepting applications this month. The program will provide 250 single-parent families living in the 90813 ZIP code with $500 monthly payments for a year.

To be eligible for the Long Beach Pledge, residents must be single parents and live at or below the poverty line in the 90813 ZIP code, which includes the lower Westside, the Washington neighborhood, Cambodia Town and MacArthur Park. The 90813 ZIP code was chosen because the area has the highest concentration of poverty within the city and was one of the hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Families that are chosen will also receive tools to help them succeed along with their monthly payments including financial counseling and supportive services. Those services could include free childcare, transportation support, workforce training and support for digital inclusion like cell phones and internet connection.

For more information, please click HERE

Port of Long Beach to Receive $30M Grant for Zero-Emission Cargo-Handling Equipment

The Port of Long Beach will receive a $30.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to deploy the nation’s largest fleet of manually operated, zero-emission cargo-handling equipment at a single marine terminal. The funding is a critical step toward reaching the port’s goal of operating a fully zero-emission cargo-handling fleet by 2030 as part of the joint Clean Air Action Plan, which was first implemented in 2007 and then updated in 2017.

Compared to 2005, the year before the Clean Air Action Plan was adopted, the Port of Long Beach has reduced emissions of diesel particulate matter by 88%, nitrogen oxides by 49%, and sulfur oxides by 96%.

For more information, please click HERE

Long Beach Could Look to Incentives to Reduce Downtown Office Vacancies, Convert Buildings into Housing

Long Beach could look at incentives like tax and fee reductions to try and draw more businesses to vacant Downtown office spaces or to convert those spaces into housing. A report released by the Downtown Long Beach Alliance in August showed that 22.4% of office space in Downtown was vacant as of the second quarter of 2022. The City Council voted Tuesday night for city management to come up with options that could include business license holidays to try and attract more businesses to the area that has seen vacant office space hit its highest marks in 20 years.

Councilmember Rex Richardson said that the city needs to develop options to fill vacancies, which could include rezoning areas meant for commercial space to allow residential development and applying for state funding to help pay for the adaptive reuse of buildings, among other incentives.

For more information, please click HERE

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