When Gregory Brown was a young man, he dreamed of earning a good living for himself and his family. But life had other plans — and Brown found himself living out of his car not too long ago.
But that changed recently when Brown learned he was accepted into Wellspring, a new affordable housing development in Long Beach’s Cambodia Town neighborhood.
“It wasn’t just a place to sleep; it was a chance to begin again,” Brown said, “to start over and create a better life for myself.”
Long Beach celebrated the grand opening of the 88-unit Wellspring on Tuesday, April 16. The new community is for low-income households, with 20 units set aside as permanent supportive housing for older adults who were homeless.
The five-story development, on Anaheim Street and Walnut Avenue, revitalized a once-vacant site. Wellspring consists of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments, and offers residents access to supportive services, including case management, physical and mental health services, and counseling. These services will be provided by Mental Health America Los Angeles and the YMCA of Greater Long Beach.
The property also includes a large community room with a kitchen, two resident services offices, free community room WiFi, an outdoor terrace, a playground, laundry facilities, on-site parking for residents and bicycle parking, officials said.
The project was led by BRIDGE Housing – a nonprofit developer, owner and manager of affordable housing on the West Coast – along with other partners, including Long Beach, Los Angeles County Development Authority, Housing Authority of the City of Long Beach, Long Beach Community Investment Company and U.S. Bank, among others.
“Creating beautiful, affordable housing communities like this one, along with the comprehensive residential services, which are just as important as the housing, is really hard – but that’s what we’re in business to do and it’s been our mission for 40 years to do that,” said Kenneth Novack, chair of BRIDGE Housing. “But we couldn’t do it without everyone else’s help. We know that affordable housing is much more than shelter; it is the foundation for better lives and stronger communities.”
Mayor Rex Richardson, Councilmember Suley Saro and other city officials, as well as BRIDGE Housing representatives and additional partners, all convened to celebrate the ribbon-cutting on Tuesday.
“We know that right now we’ve seen unprecedented growth in homelessness between 2020 and 2022,” Richardson said Tuesday. “But right at the beginning of 2023, we worked together and we said that this is our city’s top priority.
The city declared a local emergency in January 2023 to help streamline government bureaucracy and free up money to help address the homeless crisis. During Long Beach’s 2023 point-in-time homeless count, officials and volunteers tallied 3,447 unhoused people — a 4.6% increase from the year before. The emergency declaration has since ended.
“We worked together with the county, across departments, to do everything we can to address homelessness, and we’re proud of that,” Richardson added. “We believe in housing in Long Beach and we’re going to continue to build housing and we want it to be affordable for residents to live in.”
The project will also have a new community health and wellness center on the ground level, in partnership with TCC Family Health. It is expected to open to the public in the fall.
“This development is just another example of our successful prevention with BRIDGE Housing,” Saro said. “And just our commitment as a city to making sure that we create more affordable housing. We’re excited that this is our first project with BRIDGE Housing and looking forward to more.”
BRIDGE Housing broke ground on the $57.7 million project in 2021, officials said.
The Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services, meanwhile, pulled from its housing voucher waiting list to place people at Wellspring, said health department Director Alison King.
“The day I was moved into my own apartment at Wellspring was a moment of relief for the first time in a long time,” Brown said. “I had a place to call home. I am grateful to everyone who made it possible for me and my neighbors who live with us. This community has truly been lifesaving for me.”
