Riverside has grown, and that growth is projected to continue.

That point was made many times over Thursday night, Jan. 25, at Riverside’s annual State of the City address.

“We’re no longer a small town, waiting for our turn or recognition,” Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, who’s seeking reelection in March, said at the beginning of her speech at the Riverside Convention Center.

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Here are five takeaways from the mayor’s message.

Homelessness is still a focus

“Homelessness is our No. 1 challenge,” Lock Dawson said, adding that in 2023, homelessness rose by 6% in California and 12% nationwide.

“Here in Riverside, we’re tackling this crisis with a three-pronged strategy: prevention, intervention and enforcement,” she said. “And while we’re already seeing progress, like a 12% reduction in chronic homelessness in the past year alone, we still have work to do.”

Lock Dawson mentioned recently launched programs, including Project Connect, a jail program that aims to keep newly released inmates from becoming homeless, and CARE Court, which allows certain parties to request services for severely mentally ill people. The city advocated for Riverside County to be among the first in the state to roll it out.

She said that new mental health laws, including the March state ballot measure Proposition 1, which would build new psychiatric care facilities, are “the first meaningful changes to our mental-health laws in over 50 years.”

Housing shortage continues, but projects are underway

California’s housing crisis continues, but Riverside is working to do its part, the mayor said.

“We have over 3,000 entitled units in the pipeline, with 680 completed this past year and over 900 under construction and another 3,000 units under conceptual review,” Lock Dawson said.

Having an adequate supply of housing is key to retaining employers and students, and giving security to seniors, she said.

According to the Regional Housing Need Allocation, Riverside will need to build roughly 25,000 new homes by 2029 to catch up with the shortage and meet future needs.

City expands police presence

Lock Dawson said “historic investments in our police department and our public safety teams” will better protect residents.

“We’re working to ensure our police department is 100% staffed, possibly for the first time in 20 years,” she said. “We’ve hired 60 new police officers, fully staffed our 20 parks and neighborhood specialists, provided 55 new police cars and put two new police helicopters in service.” Also, the city has a new security resource pilot program, which supports businesses by increasing safety and security measures to take pressure off of the police department.

Riverside’s “first-ever real-time crime dashboard” will also be launched online in coming months, the mayor said.

City building up businesses

“With over 3,500 business licenses issued in the past year alone, Riverside is outperforming its peers by 75%,” Lock Dawson said, and the 23,000 renewed accounts represent an “all-time high.”

To speed up the planning process, the city has added eight employees, including a plan check manager, to help get approvals and permits more quickly, she said.

“In 2023, the city processed over 6,000 building permits — 6,000 — valued at over $335 million,” she said, “a level of economic activity we have not seen in our city since 2006.”

One business coming to Riverside is Ohmio, an autonomous electric shuttle manufacturer, which plans to establish establish its international headquarters in the city.

Of Riverside businesses, more than 50% are minority-owned, which Lock Dawson called “a remarkable 170% more than the national average.”

Improving parks, recreation, rivers

The city continues to improve and expand its parks and other attractions.

“Let’s talk about an effort that is near and dear to my heart: putting the river back in Riverside,” Lock Dawson said.

Previous grant money for parks inspired the idea for The River District, an initiative that “envisions the Santa Ana River as a destination” for restaurants, nature-based activities, biking and other recreation.

A market analysis for the project is underway, she said.