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SONJA K. BERNDT
Pasadena, CA 91107
2022 ^AY 16 PH 2=07
May 16, 2022
Mayor Victor Gordo (vgordo(a),cityofpasadena.net)
Vice Mayor Andy Wilson ([email protected])
Councilmember Tyron Hampton (thampton(a!cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember John Kennedy Ciohnikennedy(%cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Steve Madison (smadison@,cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Gene Masuda (gmasuda(%cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Jessica Rivas Ciefivas(%cityofpasadena.net) Councilmember Felicia Williams (fwilliams@,cityofpasadena.net) Members of the Economic Development & Technology Committee gstevenson(%citvofDasadena.net
[email protected]
Pasadena, California
Re: ED Tech Committee Meetine 5/17/2022: Agenda Item # 1 - Pasadena Housing Department's Proposed FY2023 Operating Budget
Dear Mayor Gordo, Members of the City Council,
& Members of the Economic Development & Technology ("ED Tech") Committee:
A. Introduction
I have been a resident of Pasadena for 19 years and I live in District 4. I write to strongly urge you to substantially increase General Fund appropriations for the Housing Department's FY2023 Budget. According to the Housing Department's mission statement, its core values include "decent, safe, affordable housing as an equal right for all Pasadena residents." But it is impossible to meet that core value because the Department is severely underfunded. Our City can, and must, do better for our most vulnerable residents.
B. Our Housing Department is Severely Underfunded
According to the FY2023 Operating Budget, 89.89% of the Housing Department's entire budget is from federal program s/grants. Funding from our General Fund is only $1.625 million, barely over 4% of the Housing Department's entire budget. Contrast this with the Police Department's FY2023 Budget: $89.4 million from the General Fund (nearly $5 million MORE than in the adopted FY2022 budget), which is 92% of its entire budget.
The fact that the Housing Department must rely on grants from outside the City is unacceptable.
Grants are time limited, competitive and uncertain. In fact, the Housing Department's FY2023 1 budget is more than $1.3 million LOWER than last year due to the end ofpandemic-related ;rants. General Fund appropriations, however, are certain, not restricted to specific uses, and allow departments to plan their programs knowing what funding is available.
C. Our City Has Failed to IVIake Appreciable Progress in Ending Homelessness and Has Failed to Effectively Address the Housing Needs of our Unsheltered Residents According to the 2020 Homeless Count, Pasadena had a total of 527 unhoused people, 294 of which had no shelter at all. According to 2022 Homeless Count, Pasadena had 512 unhoused persons, 280 of which had no shelter at all. The staff report for the 5/16/2022 City Council meeting tries to put a positive spin on these new numbers by saying there is a continuing "leveling off ofhomelessness in our City. (5/16/22 Staff Report, p. 2.) The Homeless Count Report ("HCR") notes our homelessness numbers are "holding steady." (HCR, p. 11.) But the goal of our City is to end homelessness, not "hold the numbers steady." »;
The 2022 Homeless Count Report shows that our City has failed to make an appreciable dent in the number of persons experiencing homelessness. Moreover, there is a strong likelihood that the "unsheltered" number of 280 is an undercount. As noted in the staff report and HCR, persons are counted as "sheltered" even if they are in a motel for one night using a"voucher" provided under the City's motel "voucher" program. (5/16/22 Staff Report, pp. 1,3.) It was raining on the night of the 2022 Homeless Count. Significantly, the HCR notes that of those 45% categorized as sheltered persons, 37% were in emergency shelter and only 8% in transitional housing. (HCR, p. 12.) There is no data showing whether the persons in "emergency shelter" received one night of shelter from the rain and were back on the street the following night. Counting a person who receives one night of shelter in a year as "sheltered" is misleading and is unhelpful in determining an effective approach to providing for our unhoused neighbors.
Unsheltered persons are extremely vulnerable due to substantial chronic health conditions; undiagnosed and untreated mental illness; substance use disorders; malnutrition, and/or other substantial problems, including threats to their personal safety. {See Pasadena Homeless Count- 2020, pp. 23-25; see also, HCR, p. 15.) Interim housing (temporary housing between living on the street and permanent housing) provides personal safety, security for belongings, toilets, showers, laundry facilities, meals, assistance with medical needs (such as onsite nurses who monitor blood pressure), linkage to benefits (such as health insurance, SSI, etc.), etc.
In FY2022, interim housing received ZERO General Fund dollars. Moreover, despite our hundreds of unsheltered residents, the Housing Department made available only 2% of its entire adopted FY2022 budget for interim housing. It is unclear how little the Housing Department proposes to spend on interim housing in FY2023. While the Department will be receiving $3 million of American Rescue Plan Act ("ARPA") federal funds this year, those are designated for "Affordable Housing projects." Significantly, the Department admits it does not have sufficient funding for interim housing (shelter): "Although Pasadena continues to receive one-time increases in funding from the State, a reliable source of ongoing funding is needed to support 2 high priority needs such as ... increasing shelter capacity." (FY2023 Housing Department Budget, p. 6.)
A substantial hole in Pasadena's programs for persons experiencing homelessness is the lack of interim housing. While our City provides brief stays in motel rooms for a fraction of our unsheltered residents (using federal and state funding when available), that program is expensive, ineffective and inefficient. Once a motel night is over, the money is used up, the room is gone, and the person is back on the street. People need individual, locked sleeping quarters and effective case management services to begin to stabilize.
Significantly, Housing Department staff described life on the street to the ED Tech Committee last December in this way: "It's very unsafe on the street. People don't sleep much." (12/8/2021 Mtg., timestamp 1:16:00.) Since life on the street in our City is "very unsafe," why are we not treating this as an emergency public safety and public health crisis? Why are we not seriously considering, creating, and funding proven alternative interim housing models to protect our most vulnerable residents? Tiny home shelter communities and re-purposed motels are being established in many Southern California cities and are successfully transitioning unhoused residents to permanent housing. They are cost-effective and provide efficient case management services since case managers are on site. Further, as people move on, the space and services are ready for another to use.
At its December 8, 2021 meeting, the ED Tech Committee tasked Housing Department staff to get specific information on the number of motel nights provided for our unsheltered folks and a cost comparison of the motel "voucher" program and alternative models of interim housing.
Chairperson Hampton agreed to agendize the subject of the tiny-home interim housing model stating it was an important discussion. (12/8/21 ED Tech Mtg., timestamp 1:02:00.) The information still has not been presented and the subject of tiny homes still has not been agendized. The subject of tiny homes must be agendized at the ED Tech Committee as promised months ago. And at that meeting, we need experienced service providers like Hope of the Valley, which has operated numerous tiny home communities and is intimately familiar with the cost, services offered, and program results.
The City must appropriate more General Fund dollars if we are to have any hope of ending homelessness in our City. Additionally, the City has $20 million coming this month in American Rescue Plan Act funding from the federal government. With some of those funds, our City could alleviate the suffering of many of our unsheltered folks by creating a tiny home community or re- purposed motel so they are truly safe and have onsite access to services that will significantly help them transition to permanent housing and wellness.
D. Our City Needs to Provide Greater Assistance to Our Renters Our renters in Pasadena also need more assistance. With the eviction moratorium ending, there will be increased requests for help and for legal assistance. Significantly, 62% ofPasadenans are renters and many pay over half of their income on rent. Providing financial and legal assistance for renters can prevent homelessness.
3 Additionally, our City needs a revenue-generating Rental Registry to allow the tracking of code violations, illegal notices, rent increases and evictions. This will help to ensure that inspections required every four years are performed. A Rental Registry could track bad actors and assist in levying fines to landlords in violation of local and state laws around rent increases; reasons for eviction; and code violations that negatively impact safe and healthy housing.
A Rental Registry would generate revenue by charging landlords a fee for each unit rented. The city could prohibit the pass-through of those costs to tenants and use the funds for additional housing support and homeless prevention like legal counsel to tenants facing eviction and a rental assistance fund.
E. Specific Reguests to Address the Unmet Needs of Our Unsheltered Residents and Our Renters
For all of these reasons, I urge the ED Tech Committee to recommend (and the City Council to approve) increasing the FY2023 Housing Department budget to provide much more General Fund funding for programs, and appropriating ARPA funding sufficient to do the following:
Fully fund upfront costs for a tiny home shelter community/repurposed motel to provide for 75-100 people and the funding necessary to cover ongoing operations.
Provide sufficient funding to meet the need for rental assistance.
Establish a revenue-generating Rental Registry to allow the tracking of code violations, illegal notices, rent increases and evictions and to ensure that the inspections required every four years are performed.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/
Sonja K. Berndt
Pasadena
Cc: William Huang, Housing Department Director
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