SONJAK.BERNDT
January 29,2024
Councilmember Tyron Hampton, Chairperson of the
Economic Development & Technology ("ED Tech") Committee Members of the ED Tech Committee
By Email
Re: ED Tech Meeting 1/30/2024 Agenda #1: The Critical Problems with Draft 3 of the Pasadena Continuum of Care's Homelessness Plan 2023-2028.
Dear Members of the ED Tech Committee:
A. Introduction
Thank you for continuing the discussion on Draft 3 of the Pasadena Continuum of Care's ("CoC's") Homelessness Plan 2023-2028 (the "Plan"). I have focused this letter on the areas of the Plan with which I am most familiar from over three years of advocacy for Pasadena's unhoused residents. My knowledge and experience are based on my research, review of documents obtained from the City through multiple Public Record Act requests, webinars of experts in the field, interviews of persons involved in providing services to Pasadena's unhoused residents, and from the journey I have taken over the past three and one-half years with a formerly unhoused gentleman who has become a dear friend. To prepare this response, I reviewed the draft Plan and also listened to the entire discussion of an earlier draft of the Plan presented at the Planning Commission's Febmary 8, 2023 meeting during which multiple commissioners discussed their concerns with that draft of the Plan. Draft #3 of the Plan still has significant problems and will not ensure that all of our unhoused residents will receive the housing and services necessary to end homelessness in our City.
I will start with a discussion of three critical overarching problems of the Plan. Then I will respond to the discussion of some of the Plan's stated goals in its sections on Systemwide Needs (Plan, pages 13-22), and Crisis Response (Plan pages 30-34).
B. Three Critical Overarching Problems with the Plan
#1: The Plan's soal of "reducing" homelessness in Pasadena by 50% over the next five years fails to treat homelessness as an urgent humanitarian crisis.
The stated purpose of the Plan is to REDUCE homelessness by 50% over the next five years, not end it. While the Plan boasts that its "goals and strategies provide a roadmap 1 for success and create meaningful and positive change in the lives of people experiencing homelessness [Plan, p. 12]," success cannot be achieved when only 50% of our residents who are languishing on our streets are projected to be housed over the next five years.
Real success should be measured by driving the rate ofhomelessness to "functional zero," meaning it should be "rare, brief and non-recurring." Where are the over 300 unsheltered residents going to be sheltered over the next five years and what is going to happen to the 50% who receive no housing?
#2: While the Plan notes strategies to reduce homelessness in our City, it fails to explain HOW the goals specified will be achieved.
At its February 8, 2023 meeting, Planning Commissioners urged staff to go back to the drawing board and provide quantitative goals, explain how it would achieve those goals, and provide accountability. Draft #3 of the Plan now provides some goals, e.g., a 50% reduction in homelessness annually, investment in 150 new permanent supportive units, and an increase in shelter beds so that 80% of our unhoused residents will have shelter on any given night. (Plan, pp. 13-14.) However, there is no discussion of how these figures were calculated, what the cost will be, or how these goals will be achieved. How are the strategies listed going to be funded? In past years and presently, the City has relied almost exclusively on federal, state, and county grants to solve our City's homelessness problem. Pasadena is without a local source of funding for fighting homelessness or providing affordable housing. That is inexcusable.
#3: There is no discussion of real accountability, setting the Plan up for potential failure without consequences.
According to the Plan, since 1995, the CoC has served as the primary planning entity responsible for addressing the housing and supportive service needs of people experiencing homelessness. (Plan., p. 2.) It is one of over 400 designated Continuums of Care nationally that receive federal funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). (Ibid.) In recent years, the CoC has also received direct funding from the state and Los Angeles County. (Ibid.)
The CoC "is a collaborative network of nonprofit organizations, government agencies, faith-based organizations, advocates, and system partners" with "a commitment to making homelessness in Pasadena rare, brief, and non-recurring." (Plan, p. 2.) The CoC is led by a Board that is elected by the CoC's members, which serves as "the primary decision-making body for system-level priorities, resource allocation and local program policies." (Ibid.)
Significantly, according to the Plan, the CoC is "led" and "managed" by Pasadena's Department of Housing. The Housing Department is the CoC's legal and fiscal entity, and its staff "oversees" grants and programming. (Plan, p. 16.) 2 The critical component missing from the Plan is a clear acknowledgement of who is responsible for results. Please ask yourselves: Who is ultimately accountable to our unhoused residents and all of the residents in our City for achieving Plan results? The Housing Department led by its Director, Bill Huang? The CoC Board of Directors? Incredibly, since the City Council does not approve the Plan and doesn't even appoint the members of the CoC Board, it can simply wash its hands of any and all failures in achieving Plan results.
There must be a clear understanding and acknowledgement of who is ultimately accountable for results to avoid the inevitable "blame game" if Plan goals are not achieved. Our elected officials on the City Council must be the persons ultimately accountable for Plan results.
C. Homelessness Plan Action Area: Systemwide Planning
^ Goal 1: Address System Needs
Permanent Supportive Housing
The Plan states that site-based permanent supportive housing is crucial to ending homelessness. (Plan, p. 14.) Further, in order to reduce homelessness by 50% by 2028, there needs to be 90 units of permanent supportive housing leased up by 2027. (Ibid.) The Plan also states that our City will need 45 new vouchers for scattered-site permanent housing. (Ibid.) What is the source of funding for these units and vouchers? Federal or state grants? Federal vouchers? Grants are competitive and not assured year after year. 55 Here is another example: "Fund a new 15-household Rapid Re-housing program." (Plan, p. 14.) A potential funding source for this program "includes bonus funding through HUD's CoC program competitions." (Ibid, emphasis added.) Again, this is federal money and since it is competitive, it is not assured.
The Plan states possible sources of funding such as the new housing trust but makes no mention of dedicated City-generated funding. Community members have told the City Council many times that there must be a dedicated source(s) of funding for housing and services in order to end homelessness in our City. Moreover, the City's own Housing Department has stated publicly that the City cannot strategize to end homelessness without knowing the amount of guaranteed funding for this purpose.
Emergency Shelter Beds
The Plan states "While one-time block grants have helped mitigate some of the losses during the pandemic by providing motel vouchers, the fundins will be expiring and the CoC now faces a substantial reduction in shelter resources^despite a persistent need 3 for additional beds. In order to meet the goal of providing shelter for 80% of individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night by 2028, the CoC has identified a need for an additional 70 shelter beds." (Plan, p. 14, emphasis added.) Since shelter programs with longer stays have been shown to be more successful in facilitating participants' transition to permanent housing, the CoC has prioritized ensuring they are available year-round. (Ibid.)
I did not see any definitions of "emergency shelter" or "interim housing," or a distinction made between these two terms. Interim housing can refer to housing from the time a person leaves the street until he/she is permanently housed (which can take up to two years), much longer than stays in a bad weather emergency shelter.
Also, it is unclear how the Plan calculates that an additional 70 emergency shelter beds will shelter 80% of individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night.
According to the Plan, there were 1,208 homeless persons annually. How many were unsheltered? That number is cmcial to determining the number of shelter beds needed.
If you use the 2023 Homeless Count number of unsheltered persons, 303, given that it can take two years or longer to achieve permanent housing, 70 new year-round shelter beds would appear to be grossly inadequate to meet the 80% goal.
According to the Plan, to increase the supply of emergency shelter beds, the following actions will be taken:
*Maintain 20 year-round motel vouchers once emergency pandemic funding has ended - no stated funding mechanism. (Plan, p. 15.) What is the cost and source of funding? ^Develop two new 25-bed emergency shelters. (Plan, p. 15.) While the Plan identifies types of interim housing models for this such as tiny home villages, no cost estimate or funding mechanism is identified. Moreover, a critical issue the Plan fails to discuss is where this interim housing will be sited. Last year, it was publicly reported that Councilmember Felicia Williams single-handedly blocked the creation of county-funded interim housing at a motel in her district. Additionally, Housing Director Bill Huang personally told me in 2021 that his staff would not start working on siting a tiny home interim housing village until a council member agrees to have the village in their district.
And, the ED Tech Committee could not muster the three votes needed to have the tiny home issue agendized at City Council! Where is the plan for siting the shelters/interim housing? Siting of interim housing in our City has been blocked by our leaders vet is not even discussed in the Plan.
^-Goal 2: Strengthen Collaboration at All Levels
Advance the Work of Built for Zero. (Plan, p. 16.) It is heartening that the City is going to track our unhoused residents by name and monitor their progress. But the Plan states 4 that City collaboration will be bolstered through quarterly inter-departmental meetings on homelessness. We have a humanitarian crisis necessitating monthly, not quarterly, meetings.
^ Goal 2c: Establish a Community Education Ad Hoc Committee According to the Plan, "the [Community Education Ad Hoc] committee will advocate for policy reforms that address the root causes ofhomelessness and drive efforts to decriminalize homelessness." (Plan, p. 17.) For years, community members have advocated for more affordable housing, for by-right siting of emergency shelters and to end the Police Department's treatment of our unsheltered residents as criminals. Yet PPD still responds to calls for services involving unhoused persons and cites them for such ridiculous offenses as loitering and trespassing, thus creating more obstacles for them to overcome. What our City needs is ACTION from the City Council to end homelessness in our City.
^ Goal 3: Expand Access to Mental Health & Substance Use Services The Plan states "To improve access and quality of care for these services, it is cmcial to support system partners, including the Department of Mental Health and the Department of Health Services. By collaboratively addressing systemic barriers, the CoC can work towards a more accessible and equitable mental health system." (Plan, p. 19.) What does "cmcial to support" mean? I have been involved in homelessness outreach and advocacy for three years. An enormous problem is the lack of available mental health professionals and employee turnover due to harsh working conditions and inadequate pay. The City and County can "refer for appropriate services" but there aren't nearly enough mental health professionals to meet the need. How will the CoC address that problem and with what funds?
^ Goal 4: Strengthen The Homeless Sector Workforce
The CoC recognizes the cmcial role that high-quality service provider staff play in achieving meaningful reductions in homelessness. With an average job tenure of less than two years, high vacancy rates for service providers are common, resulting in higher caseloads and burnout for the remaining staff. (Plan, p. 20.) While the CoC promises to decrease the administrative burden for sub-recipients ofCoC funds, this is trivial. What is needed is better salaries for these people along with affordable housing to allow them to live in the communities they serve. According to service providers, the average case manager case load is 30 clients. This is far too many to provide the services that many unhoused clients need. We need more case managers, and we need to pay them a decent salary and provide affordable housing. The Plan doesn't make any attempt to put forth solutions for these problems or the funding mechanism needed to solve them. 5 ^- Goal 5: Increase the Supply of Affordable Housing in Pasadena The Plan mostly refers and defers to goals stated in the Housing Element for this section and says it will advocate for "a dedicated revenue source for affordable rental housing, which could include a real estate transfer tax or document recording fees, with a focus on building community support and political will around permanent housing programs." (Plan, p. 21.) For years, local nonprofit organizations and community advocates have held webinars and engaged in other activities to build community support for interim and permanent housing. But what is evident is that our City does not have a majority of councilmembers with the political will to create housing for our most vulnerable residents.
The CoC and the City Council should explore, on an urgent basis, all available avenues to fund more affordable housing, and crisis programs and services for our unhoused residents. This should include a bond measure. Recently, it was reported that the City is considering a 2024 bond issue for either a $200 million bond to bring the closed Central Library up to modem earthquake standards - or an even larger tax measure to pay for the Library as well as an additional $200 million for deferred maintenance at the Rose Bowl and $181 million to bring our Fire Stations up to modem standards. This despite the fact that the Rose Bowl still owes over $200 million for the hugely expensive remodel of the Rose Bowl years ago. Does the City Council care more about saving buildings than people? The Council must prioritize the needs of all our community members and provide basic needs for its most vulnerable residents.
D. Homelessness Plan Action Area: Crisis Response
^ Goal 12: Strengthen and Expand Emergency Shelter & Interim Housing Programs The Plan states as follows: "Emergency shelters and interim housing offer temporary respite while people work towards permanent housing. These crucial programs, however, have seen significant inventory reductions over the last three years, fueled largely by the pandemic and the decompression of beds at facility-based shelters. While one-time block grants available during the pandemic helped soften these losses through motel voucher prosrams, this fundins is comine to an end, and the CoC now faces a significant reduction in shelter funding despite the continued need for beds." (Plan p. 32, emphasis added.)
As discussed above in the section on Systemwide Planning, it is unclear how the Plan calculated that an additional 70 emergency shelter beds will shelter 80% of individuals experiencing homelessness on any given night. If you use the 2023 Homeless Count number of unsheltered persons, 303, given that it can take two years or longer to achieve permanent housing, 70 new year-round shelter beds appear to be grossly inadequate. 6 Moreover, what is the source of funding for these 70 beds and who is accountable for achieving this number? Consider the following scenario if the results are not achieved:
The CoC says "It's not OUR fault. We're just a planning agency, not a funding agency." The Housing Department shifts the blame stating "Well, the state and federal government failed to give us the funding for these shelter beds so we're unable to do this; it's not OUR fault." The City Council says "We were not asked to approve the Homelessness Plan and anyway, the state and federal governments are responsible for the failure of our City's Homelessness Plan. It's not OUR fault."
53 The Plan says "the following actions will be taken to strengthen and expand emergency shelter and interim housing programs" (Plan, p. 32), but how? The Plan says that the one-time block grants are coming to an end. From what source are the replacement funds and the additional funds to achieve this housing going to come? There is no discussion of city-generated funding for this housing, which will be a critical component to ending our homelessness crisis.
The Plan states that the COC will "Advocate for the creation of recuperative care (medical respite) beds. In addition to traditional emergency shelter beds, there is a significant need for respite or recuperative care beds . . . [to care for ] unhoused individuals, who may be too ill to recover from an illness while living on the street but are not sick enough to remain in the hospital." (Plan, p. 32.) This statement ignores the fact that a sizeable portion of our unhoused residents have substantial CHRONIC medical conditions. Persons with serious, chronic medical conditions need PERMANENT supportive housing, not respite care, in order to manage these illnesses.
E. Conclusion
As Planning Commissioner Rick Cole aptly stated: "[F] or a city as richly endowed as Pasadena, it is not only possible to provide adequate housing and services to ensure no one has to remain unhoused . . . ,itis morally and economically inexcusable not to set that as our clear goal." (Pasadena Now, 2/20/2023.) The Plan as currently drafted has very substantial deficiencies as discussed above and will not meet the City's duty to provide the most basic necessities for its most vulnerable residents. Thank you for your time and consideration of this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/
SonjaK. Berndt
Pasadena
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