City Council Will Consider Utilizing Convention Center As Temporary Emergency Shelter

LONG BEACH — The City Council will consider at a special meeting April 6, utilizing the Long Beach Convention Center to provide unattended migrant children with temporary emergency shelter. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Refugee Resettlement has requested assistance from local governments throughout the United States to provide temporary facilities for these children, while the federal government quickly reconnects them with family members or sponsors in the United States. Long Beach specifically has been requested to assist with this humanitarian mission to safely house children who are unattended by their parents.

At the request of the federal government, the city explored potential sites to assist and has determined that the Long Beach Convention Center would be the optimal site to provide housing, food, recreational and other services to these children in need. The Convention Center would temporarily accommodate up to 1,000 children for a period of 90 to 120 days. The federal government would be responsible for both funding and providing the major services needed to care for the children, with Long Beach playing a supporting role, providing the facility, and making connections to other appropriate nonprofit and government servicesView the official statement HERE