Last week, Long Beach City Manager Tom Modica announced the appointment of Alison King as the director for the Long Beach Department of Health and Human Services (Health Department), effective immediately. King brings to the position over five years of experience as a public health administrator and over 20 years of human services experience. King has served as acting director for the Health Department since October 2023.
“It is a privilege to officially appoint Ms. King as our new Health Department Director,” said City Manager Tom Modica. “Her critical thinking and innovative approach to problem-solving, coupled with her compassion and genuine leadership, has already made such a positive impact in our Health Department and the way in which we serve our community. I look forward to seeing her thrive in her new role as director and the continued change she will make for our community.”
As director, King will oversee Health Department efforts for more than 55 diverse programs in core public health services as well as social determinants of health, including housing and homelessness, mental health and family and youth development. She will lead a department of over 500 employees operating at 12 sites throughout the city and oversee an annual budget of $180 million, 95% of which comes from federal, state, county and private funds. The Long Beach Health Department is one of only three city-run health departments in California.
“I feel truly honored that the City has entrusted me in this role,” said King. “The Health Department touches the lives of everyone who lives, works, studies or plays in Long Beach. I want to expand on the amazing efforts of the staff and bring even more community engagement and transparency to our work.”
King joined the City of Long Beach in 2005 in the Housing Authority, a bureau in the Health Department, and held various positions of leadership before being named bureau manager in 2016. As bureau manager, she oversaw a $110 million budget subsidizing rental housing for more than 7,000 local low-income families. Under her leadership, the Housing Authority made great strides to support the City’s local affordable housing stock, having awarded over 900 housing vouchers, 10 affordable housing development contracts for 522 project-based voucher units and commitments for nine additional developments that will create over 400 new units in the next year. She also led the Emergency Housing Voucher program, which in early 2023 committed all 582 qualifying voucher holders to permanent housing, the first time the City has reached maximum lease ups for the program since 2021. Additionally, under her direction, in 2023 the City was selected as one of eight Continuum of Care communities in California to receive Stability Housing Vouchers to connect even more qualifying individuals experiencing or at risk of experiencing homelessness to permanent housing. As a testament to her leadership, the Housing Authority has consistently been designated as a high-performing agency by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
King holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Fisk University, Nashville, Tennessee.
More information about the Health Department is available at longbeach.gov/health.
About the City of Long Beach
Long Beach is nestled along the Southern California coast and home to approximately 466,000people. As an award-winning full-service charter city, Long Beach offers the amenities of a metropolitan city while maintaining a strong sense of individual and diverse neighborhoods, culture and community. With a bustling downtown and over six miles of scenic beaches, Long Beach is a renowned tourist and business destination and home to the iconic Queen Mary, nationally recognized Aquarium of the Pacific and Long Beach Airport, award-winning Long Beach Convention and Entertainment Center and world-class Port of Long Beach.
For more information about the City of Long Beach, visit longbeach.gov/. Follow us on social to keep up with the latest news: Facebook, X, Instagram and YouTube.