By Dianne Anderson

Soaring rents, rental displacement, homelessness, housing affordability, and gentrification are high on the agenda this June 2 Primary.

As cities everywhere brace for next year’s cuts to anti-poverty programs and rising cost-of-living pressure, ongoing homeless encampments have communities calling for more shelters, more transitional housing, and increased supportive services.

Last year’s Point In Time count shows almost 58% of the newly unhoused are experiencing homelessness for the very first time, with Black residents making up 34% of the counted homeless population.

Rex Richardson – Incumbent Mayor

With a population of nearly 450,000 and a $3.7 billion budget, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson oversees one of the state’s largest municipal operations, including its own airport, utilities, health department, and the Port of Long Beach.

Since taking office in 2022, Richardson has juggled homelessness, public safety, economic recovery, and youth opportunity under his “Opportunity Beach” agenda.

Under his leadership, the city approved over 5,000 new homes, including two Project Homekey developments, adding 177 supportive housing units, expanded shelter capacity, launched the Upstream LB prevention program, and secured key county funding.

Thousands of new housing units were approved, and he expanded the Backyard Builders ADU loan program with state funding.

“Long Beach took on its toughest challenges and we delivered together. Over 4,000 new good-paying jobs, more than 200 new police officers on our streets, and crime is lower today than it was when we started. Homelessness is declining for the first time in nearly a decade. And we were named the most business-friendly city in LA County. We’re moving in the right direction, but the job’s not finished. I’m Mayor Rex Richardson, and I’m asking for your vote by June 2nd. Let’s keep building,” Richardson said on his campaign website.

Through policing and prevention, Richardson said the city reached its lowest crime rate in 20 years, with declines in violent and property crime, expanded police and fire staffing, new mental health crisis response teams, and a Police Oversight Commission.

Workforce opportunities have also expanded through the Office of Youth Development, the S.T.R.O.N.G. Beach plan, and the Youth Fund. Other initiatives include the Long Beach Public Service Corps fellowships, state-funded service programs, and the College Housing Promise for homeless youth.

Richardson has also focused on attracting major employers, creating more than 4,100 high-paying jobs, supporting small businesses, and advancing voter-approved measures for local hiring and government transparency.

Looking ahead, he plans to make the most out of the 2028 Summer Olympics spotlight, with over $1.1 billion in federal and state funding. Those funds would go to support major infrastructure improvements, including airport upgrades, road repairs, park improvements, and wetland restoration.

“Real change happens when we work together. We’ve proven what’s possible when residents, businesses, workers, and community leaders unite around solutions to our most pressing challenges. We’ve brought Long Beach’s homeless population down for the first time in a decade, created over 4,000 new jobs, and built the foundation for a thriving future where innovation and opportunity go hand in hand. Let’s continue working together to deliver a Long Beach where everyone thrives,” said Richardson on his website.

Tamika Wagner-Osio – candidate for Long Beach City Council District 1

Tamika Wagner-Osio is looking to make city government work smarter, faster, and more transparently.

For her, recovering wasted resources, cutting bureaucracy, reinvesting savings for clean streets, safer neighborhoods, and boosting support for small businesses and working families is not just wishful thinking.

The answer lies in her creation, a technology and data-driven system.

Tamika Wagner-Osio

As a longtime District 1 business owner and state-licensed provider, Wagner-Osio has spent over 20 years on the front lines of foster care and homelessness.

She is the founder and executive director of Connections for Women, oversees emergency shelter programs, and serves as Board Co-Chair and Commissioner for the Long Beach Continuum of Care. To tackle these issues, she created a platform designed to reduce inefficiency and speed up housing support.

By using SheltrLink and state funding partnerships, her approach to homelessness is focused on outcomes to help speed up housing support and prevent displacement.

On her website, she talks about how services can be delivered faster to vulnerable residents, foster youth, and families in crisis.

If elected, Wagner-Osio wants to bring that same tech-builder’s approach to City Hall. Her platform focuses on preserving affordable housing, strengthening senior and tenant protections, improving neighborhood upkeep, and creating greater accountability for public spending.

She doesn’t view the city’s problems as a mystery, but says she is running to “fix the plumbing” of District 1.

“I see them as Logic Leaks. I have spent 20 years in the ‘Warzone’ of foster care and homelessness, building the data-driven infrastructure to restore accountability where manual bureaucracy has failed,” she said on her website.

She also wants to debug and optimize the actual software of Long Beach city government to deliver equity and economic survival to District 1, using data to connect administrative systems.

If there’s a glitch in the city’s financial and administrative systems, she wants to use a data-driven platform to connect those systems, track outcomes, and fix what is not working.

“By applying the formula $D=(B \times O) – M$, we audit the ‘Toil’ of city administration. By automating the bureaucracy, we free up the millions needed for clean streets and police presence without touching your wallet,” she said on his website.

Dameon Gordon – candidate for Long Beach City Council District 7

With his long background in human services, Dameon Gordon drills down on the need for wraparound homelessness support, combating housing costs and displacement through small business growth, local jobs, and environmental protections.

“Increasingly, environmental justice is being viewed through the lens of affordability,” he said in an email, adding that jobs can be socially and consciously developed. “Most people do not see environmental protection and economic growth as competing priorities.”

Dameon Gordon

Affordability remains the most significant concern across the district, he said, with many issues interconnected, including cost of living, public health, environmental accountability, and economic opportunity.

With development, he is also concerned about the potential for displacement.

“There is a growing expectation that economic development should directly benefit local communities rather than contribute to further displacement,” he said.

Gordon is a Long Beach native, husband, father, and community advocate with social-work experience supporting people experiencing homelessness. He says his campaign focuses on housing stability, public safety, and economic opportunity in District 7, emphasizing leadership that is community-rooted, accountable, and focused on results rather than political insiders.

“I’ve dedicated my life to being a part of the solution. Through my work as a social worker helping individuals experiencing homelessness, and as president of the Wrigley Village Homeowners Association, I’ve been on the ground doing the work, listening to residents, and taking action,” he said.

Gordon has spent over 15 years in behavioral health, residential care, and homeless services, most recently as a Homeless Social Worker with Catholic Charities of Los Angeles since 2019.

His background points to hands-on experience in crisis intervention, case management, housing stabilization, and program supervision, with earlier roles at Dungarvin, Olive Crest, and Genesis.

He said his priorities focus on preventing displacement, addressing homelessness, improving neighborhood safety through enforcement and prevention, and supporting small businesses and youth opportunities while securing more resources for District 7.

“Policies that promote local hiring, fair wages, and community reinvestment can help ensure that growth is inclusive rather than extractive.”

For more information, see candidate’s platforms, see:

Mayor Rex Richardson: https://www.joinrexrichardson.com/

Tamika Wagner-Osio: https://www.tamikawagnerosio.com/

Dameon Gordon at IG Instagram handle, @Dameon_Gordon_Sr

To walk in, drop off signed mail-in ballot, or stand in a booth to vote, see LA County ROV Locator Map: https://locator.lavote.gov/locations/