Sabha, Tamer
From:
Subject:
[email protected]
RE: Comment on Agenda Item 4 (AB 1033) on 8/20/2025 (support From: MarekSlipski
Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2025 5:54 PM
To: Sabha, Tamer <[email protected]>
Subject: Comment on Agenda Item 4 (AB 1033) on 8/20/2025 (support Dear Committee Members,
My wife and I had been renting a house in ALtadena for several years until the Eaton Fire completely destroyed our home. We both work in Pasadena - at jobs we love and that we think have valuable impacts on the Local community-and after carefully weighing the pros and cons after the fire, decided to continue to Live near our jobs. One of the biggest considerations was the cost of Living. In moving to Pasadena, our rent has increased by 50%. Given that, I still consider us lucky - because we had been saving up in the hopes of becoming first-time homeowners prior to the Eaton Fire. We are now spending that saved money on significantly increased rent, watching the probability of realizing our dream of owning a home in the area decline. But at least we have the luxury of living here for a bit longer. Many affected by the Eaton Fire did not.
According to the New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/realestate/la-fire-victims- altadena-palisades.html), nearly half of fire survivors moved more than 20 minutes away and almost 20% moved out of state. A naive interpretation of this data would be that people preferred to move far away from their home. As someone who went through this process, I can tell you firsthand that interpretation is incorrect (certainty for me, Likely for many others). There was already a Lack of homes in Pasadena and the surrounding area prior to the Eaton Fire (as evidenced by its vacancy rate and, most obviously, its incredibly high house and rental prices). The cost of affording a home in Pasadena is simply too high. It could have been the case that significantly more Altadena residents could have found a place to live - even temporarily while they restarted their lives - in Pasadena. Watching my hard-earned money go to paying sky-high rents so that I can be close enough to take public transportation to my job instead of driving an hour and a half is sad and discouraging.
Thus, I'm writing to you to allow accessory dwelling units (ADUs) to be sold separately as condominiums, as provided by state law, following the passage of AB 1033 two years ago. This would give me and others a chance to own a home in the area. I ask you to look at this matter from the pointof view of people who do not yet own homes and who cannot afford million-dollar home prices.
Thank you for your time and consideration of allowing sale of ADUs as per AB1033 to make owning a home more affordable in Pasadena.
Sincerely,
MarekSlipski
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