Long Beach: Lived Experience Focus Group

Description:Ensuring that the voices of people with lived experience are valued in the process of developing and analyzing housing policy and housing outcomes is critical for any system to have ethical and equitable results. The Long Beach Challenge was focused on connecting those leaving Project Roomkey, Project Homekey, and crisis hotels to safe and stable housing. The team organized a lived experience town hall in order to get feedback from current and recent residents of these programs. The team provided compensation to participants for their time, as well as reimbursement for transportation costs. Over the course of more than two hours, residents shared their experiences of working with the homeless response system in Long Beach, and offered their concrete suggestions for improvement.  They were able to engage in conversation with officials at the city and county level, as well as representatives from most of the major housing and service providers. 

The group engaged in discussion about the negative impact of recent turnover in case management, as well as the significant positive impact that housing navigators with the proper resources can make. They also highlighted the need for strong wraparound supports for clients to have the best chance at maintaining safe and stable housing. These findings were all elevated to the CoC board, and kicked off several initiatives at the leadership level.