The City of Huntington Beach has received $16 million in federal earmarks to improve the City’s beaches as well as resources to promote the mental health of citizens.
In recent years, our beaches have lost substantial amounts of sand, which result in the gradual erosion of our coastline. The federal government recently passed a budget to provide Huntington Beach with $15.5 million to replace the lost sand and shore up the beach. Under this plan, 1.75 million cubic yards of sand will be added to 42-miles of the coastline in the Surfside-Sunset Beach area. With this replacement of sand, $570,000 has been granted by the California Coastal Commission to be used to monitor the shoreline. The City thanks Congresswoman Michelle Steel for supporting this major federal funding request, which will help transform our beaches.
On top of the support to protect and preserve our beaches, the federal government has granted $500,000 to continue funding our mobile mental health crisis response program, BeWell OC in Huntington Beach. The City thanks Senator Diane Feinstein for making this request on behalf of the City and the important cause of improving mental health among residents. This mobile program, which replicates CAHOOTS (Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets), is equipped with two crisis counselors to respond to non-emergency calls related to mental health crises. Since the it launched in August 2021, the program has responded to nearly 1,450 calls, diverting non-emergency situations from our first responders so they can focus on emergency public safety calls. To learn more about Be Well OC and its services, visit www.bewellhb.com.
