McMillan, Acquanette (Netta)
From: Jeanette Mann
Sent: Saturday, April 23, 2022 10:26 AM
To: PublicComment-AutoResponse
Subject: Approve Agenda Item 9: Finance Committee: Approval of an Affordable Housing Loan Agreement with Heritage Housing Partners for City Loan in an Amount Not-To-Exceed $2,000,000.
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Good evening, Mayor Gordo and City Council Members,
I am a volunteer with All Saints Church Foster Care Project and am writing in support of Agenda Item 9 Finance Committee: Approval of an Affordable Housing Loan Agreement with Heritage Housing Partners for City Loan in an Amount Not-To-Exceed $2,000,000. This loan will be used to acquire and rehabilitate property at 2322 E. Foothill Boulevard for a six-unit affordable rental housing project for homeless and housing insecure transition age youth, particularly students at Pasadena City College.
I want to commend Mr. William Huang, Housing Director, and the staff of the Housing Department for identifying the opportunity for this project and working with Pasadena City College and the non-profit community to bring it to fruition. I would also like to commend Dr. Cynthia Olivio, Assistant Superintendent and Vice President for Student Services at Pasadena City, for establishing the PCC Housing Resources Committee as a place where college, city, and PUSD staff could work with representatives from non-profit agencies serving homeless youth to develop a project which would address the plethora of requirements for TAY housing such as case management, property management, rent subsidies, and identification of eligible students.
For the past nineteen years the Foster Care Project has worked with local community agencies to improve the quality of life of transitional aged youth. One of the major obstacles which youth face is the lack of housing. (Housing is not provided for young people over 18 who continue in foster care; they receive a monthly stipend.) In Los Angeles County in March of 2022 there were 2,633 youth 18 and older in foster care, but there were only 710 bed available through Los Angeles County's Transitional Housing Program with approximately 50 additional units of private, transitional housing. In the Fall Semester of 2021 eighty-nine students in foster care were enrolled at Pasadena City College.
It is very difficult to determine the number of youth transitioning out of foster care who become homeless. The 2015 Homeless Count in Sonoma County found that 33% of the youth under the age of 25 had been in foster care. Many estimate that as many as 50% of foster youth will become homeless. Although the City of Pasadena's 2020 Homeless Count only identified 19 unaccompanied homeless youth and one parenting youth, Hillsides' Youth Moving On, a resource center for homeless youth in Pasadena, served 150 homeless youth in 2019.
I believe this partnering of local government, developers, and non-profit agencies to provide affordable housing for young people over 18 in foster care and for young people transitioning out of foster care is an excellent way to address this critical need, and I urge you to approve Agenda Item 9 Finance Committee: Approval of an 04/25/2022
1 Item 9
Affordable Housing Loan Agreement with Heritage Housing Partners for a City Loan in an Amount not-to- Exceed $2,000,000.
Thank you,
Jeanette Mann
Pasadena, CA 91104
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