SONJAK.BERNDT
Pasadena, CA 91107
June 14, 2026
RECC.'VFD
2026 JUN 15 ^8:0°
CiTV CLh^
CSTf'CF PASADENA
Mayor Victor Gordo
Members of the Pasadena City Council
ByEmail
[email protected]
Re: Cit^_C_oyncil Meeting 6/15/2026 Agenda #9: Approval of the Annual Action Plan {20261 and_Related,Fynding Applications for the Community Development Block Grant, Home Investment Partnership Act. And Emergency Solutions Federal Grant Programs Dear Members of the City Council:
This agenda item came before the Housing, Homelessness, and Planning Committee on June 3, 2026, and engendered extended discussion amongst committee members.
Attached to this letter as Attachment 1 is the letter and exhibits I submitted to the HHP Committee for that agenda item. It expresses the many concerns I have with the proposed Annual Action Plan. As discussed therein, the chronic underfunding of homelessness programs with federal grants is well documented. Instead, year after year, the City has used the bulk of those grants for infrastructure and community projects unrelated to our homelessness crisis. This is due in large part because staff has failed to recommend more than trivial federal grant funds for our unhoused residents, and particularly our unsheltered residents.
Committee members were frustrated that staff recommended no funding for a year-round shelter, even though this was one of the Council's expressed priorities for funding in FY2027. Committee members were also frustrated that the recommended Action Plan was brought to them at "the eleventh hour" such that changing staff's recommendations to provide federal grant funds for a year-round shelter would be difficult if not impossible due to looming deadlines.
The motion made and approved by three of the four HHP Committee members was as follows:
"Move the staff recommendation forward to the full Council with the caveat that in this process we also need the road map [on] how we're going to place and fund the year-round shelter."
106/15/2026
Item 9
(Timestamp Ihr., 33 minutes.) The Committee members also indicated they wanted a "real timeline that comes back to us during the budget process." (Timestamp Ihr., 36 minutes.)
Subsequently, at the City Council meeting on June 8, 2026, Interim City Manager Hawkesworth had a Powerpoint presentation that identified $2 million in FY2027 funding designated for a year-round shelter. (Slide 14.) Slide 15 set forth a Year-Round Shelter Workplan for FY2027. I am thankful that staff has recommended this initial funding for the year-round shelter and has publicly disclosed its FY2027 Workplan for the shelter. I submit this correspondence as well as the Attachment to place my concerns on the record. Hopefully, staff will approach this critical project with all due diligence and will present future grant funding recommendations that demonstrate that our City is serious in ending its homelessness crisis on an urgent basis.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this letter.
Sincerely,
/s/
SonjaK. Bemdt
Pasadena
Cc: James Wong
Housing Director
w/Attachment
2 SONJAK.BERNDT
Pasadena, CA 91107
RECEIVED
202UUNI5 AH 8: 00
CITY CLERK
., C11-Y OF mSADENA
I.'
June 2, 2026
Mayor Victor Gordo, Chairperson of the Housing, Homelessness, and Planning Committee (IfflPC)
Members of the HHPC
By Email
[email protected]
Re: HHPC Meeting 6/3/2026 Agenda #1: ApDroval of the Annual Action Plan ('2026) and Related Funding Applications for the Community Development Block Grant, IIome Investment Partnership Act, And Emergency Solutions Federal Grant Programs Dear Members of the HHPC:
A. Introduction
I am a longtime Pasadena resident and advocate for our unhoused residents, especially those who are unsheltered and languish on our streets every day. The Housing Department's ("Department's") Program Year 2026-2027 Annual Action Plan ("Action Plan"), which is Attachment B to the agenda report, states that it "outlines the City of Pasadena's strategy for utilizing federal entitlement funds to address priority housing and community development needs." (Action Plan, p. 5.) "Overall, past performance has guided the prioritization of resources in PY[Program Year] 2026, with a continued focus on high-impact programs and activities that address the most critical community needs." (Action Plan, p. 4.)
But the Action Plan for PY 2026-2027 as well as the ones for PY2024 and 2025 (which I discussed in a lengthy letter with exhibits and submitted to you three months ago) show that our unhoused residents have been at the bottom of our City's priorities in allocating federal grant funding. These documents, which I discuss in this letter, show that only a very small portion of that funding has been expended on housing our unhoused residents even though our unsheltered residents experience trauma living on our unsafe streets every day. (Action Plan, Tables 6 & 7, pp. 19-20.)
The Action Plan needs to be rejected. StafTshould be instmcted to revise the document to recommend sufficient funding for a year-round shelter and transitional housing for our unsheltered residents. These projects were in the City Council's top five budget priorities 106/15/2026
Item 9
for FY2027, but they have been left out of the proposed FY2027 operating budget.
There can be no meaningful progress in ending our homelessness crisis unless the City treats it like a crisis, provides the funding necessary to end it, and ensures transparency and accountability throughout the process.
B. The Three Federal Funding Programs at Issue
Pasadena receives Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Partnership Act (HOME) and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESQ) funds from the U.S. Department of IIousing and Urban Development (IIUD). According to the Action Plan, the goals of the HUD federally funded entitlements programs are to provide decent housing, a suitable living environment, and expanded economic opportunities for Low/Moderate Income (LMI) residents. (Action Plan, p. 1.)
The CDBG Program offers local governments the opportunity to fond certain projects, programs and/or public services provided that they meet one of the following required national objectives:1
D Benefit low/moderate-income (LMI) persons, OR
D Prevent or eliminate slums and blight, OR
D Meet an urgent need.
C. Pasadena's Chronic Underfunding ofjlomelessness Proerams with Federal Grants
1. The Department's 2024-2025 Funding Recommendations
Exhibit 1 to this letter is a copy of Attachment A to the Housing Department's agenda report for the City Council meeting held on May 20, 2024. It is the Department's 2024- 2025 funding recommendations for the CDBG, HOME and ESG entitlement programs which were approved by the City Council. Of the $2.54 million in anticipated CDBG funds, the Department recommended no funds for supportive or interim housing for the City's unhoused residents, which numbered 556 in January 2024. Staffs plan was to use CDBG funds to rehabilitate homes, pay for sidewalk improvements, park security enhancements, repay a construction loan for a park. and fund services unrelated to our unhoused residents.
While the Department anticipated receiving $811,905 in HOME funding, it did not recommend any of that fiinding for housing or services for those who lack basic shelter.
As for ESG fiinding, the Department recommended a meager $189,807 (total) for emergency shelter, homeless prevention and administration. Per the 2024-2025 Action ' https://fiies.hudexchangeinfo/resources/documents/BasicallY-CDBG-Chapter-3-Nat-Obj.pdf(p. 3-1). 2 Plan (page 27), no funding was recommended for interim housing for our unsheltered residents to provide shelter for the long waits to permanent housing.
2. The Department's 2025-2026 Funding Recommendations
Attached as Exhibit 2 to this letter is a copy of Attachment A to the Department's agenda report for the City Council's May 19,2025 meeting. It is the Department's 2025 CDBG, HOME and ESG Funding Recommendations, which were approved by the City Council.
Of $2.299 million in CDBG fanding, no fiinding was recommended for housing or services to address our homelessness crisis.
The Department recommended $2.24 million in HOME funding for the 100-unit Ramona Senior Housing Project. The Disposition and Development Agreement for this project was approved by the City Council five years ago and it remains a weed lot after all these years. The project, with a reported estimated cost of $831,000 per unit, will have only 48 units set aside for seniors experiencing homelessness, possibly in 2028.2 For ESQ funding, the recommendations totaled $906,635. The Project Summary in the 2025-2026 Action Plan noted a goal of only 75 persons assisted by an emergency overnight shelter ($283,619) and a goal of only 25 persons assisted through rapid rehousing ($356,250). (2025-2026 Action Plan, p. 138.)
3. The Department's 2026-2027 Funding Recommendations
Attachment A to the Department's agenda report for this meeting of the IIMPC is the Department's 2026 CDBG, HOME and ESG Funding Recommendations. Of $3.077 million in CDBG fiinding, no funding is recommended for housing or services to address our homelessness crisis. Almost $2 million is recommended for infrastructure improvements such as sidewalk improvements and street resurfacing.3 This is a substantial increase of $749,000 in CDBG funding for infrastructure improvements as compared to PY2025-2026. {cf. CDBG funding in Exh. 2 with Staff's Attachment A.) As for the $662,156 in HOME funding, staff recommends a meager $212,156 for "affordable housing," some of which will be used to renovate and expand the Door of 2 Last September, the City Council approved an additional $5 million in State Local Housing Trust Fund dollars for the project, including $4.75 million for predevelopment and construction costs and $250,000 for administrative support. This project needs to be reviewed in depth to determine how the exorbitant price tag and the lengthy delays can be avoided in the future such as with modular homes and other more cost-efficient housing models.
There is a discrepancy in the Department's Attachment A versus page 24 of the Action Plan. Attachment A notes $1,125,000 of infrastructure improvements to be used for "street resurfacing & ADA improvements." But the Action Plan itself, at page 24, notes that this same amount for infrastructure improvements is to be used for "Villa Parke Soccer Field Improvement ($1,125,000)." 3 Hope property by 11 units to serve persons experiencing homelessness. (Action Plan, p.
29.) We have 342 unsheltered persons in our City!
For ESG funding, the recommendations total $949,240. The Project Summary in the 2026-2027 Action Plan notes a goal of only 19 households assisted by an emergency overnight shelter ($203,562), a goal of assisting only 35 persons with street outreach ($197,495), and a goal of only 14 households assisted through rapid rehousing ($378,770). (Action Plan, p. 25.). Significantly, while the funding for the overnight shelter was decreased by over $80,000, the iunding for "Homeless Management Information System" more than tripled (to $125,235) as compared to the funding recommendation for HMIS for 2025. (Exh. 2; Action Plan, p. 25.) At page 33 of the Action Plan, there is a section entitled "Addressing the emergency shelter and transitional housing needs of homeless persons." This section mentions the City has a site-based shelter, a shelter for homeless families and transitional housing, but includes no information on how many beds per site, or how many of those beds are ever available for our unsheltered residents. We had 581 total unhoused persons counted in the 2025 Point-in-Time Homeless count, 342 of which were unsheltered. Persons sheltered in the aforementioned shelters/transitional housing were counted as unhoused, but sheltered. The critical question is how many of these beds, if any, were available to our 342 unsheltered residents?
The section of the Action Plan also mentions the Bad Weather Shelter, which operates only in winter months and only if certain criteria are met. As for the Department's claim that the City also funds motel-based shelter (i.e., motel vouchers) for unhoused residents, those vouchers are for very minimum stays, are expensive and inefficient, and are grossly insufficient to meet the needs of all our unsheltered residents.
At page 33 of the Action Plan is a section on "FIelping homeless persons .. . make the transition to permanent housing and independent living, including shortening the period of time that individuals and families experience homelessness, facilitating access for homeless individuals and families to affordable housing units... ." The Department completely fails to discuss any efforts to facilitate access to affordable housing for persons experiencing homelessness and/or shortening the time a person experiences homelessness ... because it can't. Our City IS LOSING 142 units of valuable permanent supportive housing for persons experiencing homelessness as Centennial Place is being remodeled and repuq)osed for senior housing. Our City is going "backwards" on providing units of permanent supportive housing for our unhoused residents and it is evident from the Action Plans of 2024, 2025 and 2026 that the Department is not recommending providing any meaningful federal funding for transitional housing. 4 D. TheNeed foiLdty-Generated Funding for a Year-Round Shelter and More Transitional Housing
As mentioned, the Council listed a year-round shelter and transitional housing in the top five priorities for funding in FY2027. The proposed operating budget has no funding for either of these projects. If the City does not allocate substantially more federal grant funding for these projects, it will have to find that funding elsewhere such as with the General Fund and/or City reserves.
Critical services for our unhoused and especially our unsheltered residents are vastly underfanded with City-generated resources because the Police Department (PPD), with its escalating salaries, pension and liability costs, continues to swallow up our General Fund, leaving insufficient crumbs for departments that serve our most vulnerable residents. While the Housing Department is severely underfunded from City-generated sources, PPD's General Fund appropriations have increased by over $10 million over last year's adopted budget with a nearly $10 million increase in personnel costs.
Significantly, cost savings could be achieved by decreasing the number ofPPD officers while maintaining public safety in our City. In FY 2021, there were 5,766 PPD calls for service listed as "transient-related." In just the first six months ofFY 2025, documents produced to me by PPD show over 4,100 calls for service listed as "TRST," i.e., "transient" related! In the "Cleared By" (i.e., disposition) column of a very lengthy spreadsheet, over 4,000 of those calls for service were listed as "no further action needed/resolved" (the vast majority), "gone on arrival," canceled," and "unable to locate." Instead of incurring the huge expense of responses to calls for service related to unhoused individuals, PROVIDE HOUSING FOR THEM in the first place! This would decrease PPD salary and pension costs and at the same time alleviate suffering and promote health and wellbeing. Moreover, these calls for service may not need responses by uniformed police officers. Deploying trained civilians would be cheaper in both salary and pension costs.
PPD salaries and pension benefits are not the only drivers of skyrocketing PPD expenses.
PPD received huge appropriations for equipment thus far in FY 2026. This is on top of years of appropriations for multi-year contracts related to license plate readers, helicopter equipment, etc. which have added significant expense to PPD's budget. The City Council approved every piece of equipment that PPD requested in FY 2026, most of which is to be paid from "existing & future General Fund appropriations" at the expense of critical community programs and people suffering on the street. City appropriations for PPD equipment must be reined in to allow the City to provide basic shelter for our most vulnerable residents.
5 E. Conclusion
The City has failed to provide nearly enough safe and decent housing for our unhoused residents, especially our unsheltered residents. For these reasons, I respectfully request that this Committee and ultimately the City Council do the followmg:
Reject the proposed 2026-2027 Annual Action Plan;
Instruct the Department to increase the City's federal grant funding request for homelessness programs to be allocated toward creating and operating a year-round shelter and providing 100 additional units of transitional housing; Explore on an urgent basis ftinding for a year-round shelter and transitional housing to include funding from the General Fund and from both operating and emergency reserves; and
Explore, on an urgent basis, a dedicated funding stream for interim housing and permanent supportive housing.
•
Thank you for your time and consideration of this letter.
Smcerely,
/s/
Sonja K. Bemdt
Pasadena
Cc: James Wong
Housing Director
w/Exhs.
6 EXHIBIT 1
City of Pasadena
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program
2024-2025 Funding Recommendations
Attachment A
ft
1 PROPOSER/PROPOSED PROJECT
ADMINISTRATION
Housing Department, City of Pasadena
CDBG Program Administration
FUNDING AMOUNT
$431,922
2 Subtotal
PUBLIC SERVICES
Pasadena Unified School District
Primary Health Clinic Expansion
$431,922
$60,062
3Young & Healthy
Support for Better Health$43,984
4Armenian Relief Society
Community Social Services Program$39,390
5The Flintridge Center
Youth of Promise$75,000
6Housing Rights Center
Fair Housing Services$75,000
7College Access
College Champions$28,800
8 Subtotal
(CITY SET-ASIDE)
Housing Department, City of Pasadena
MASH Residential Rehabilitation Project
$322,236
$250,000
9Public Works Department, City of Pasadena
NW Sidewalk Improvements (Phase V)$400,000
10Public Works Department, City of Pasadena
JRCC- Lighting & Community Room Improvements$224,000
11 Department of Information Technology, City of
Pasadena
Washington Park Security Enhancements
$163,000
12Pasadena Water & Power
Solar Panel Installation Program$210,000
13Pasadena Water & Power
EV-Charger Installation Program
$100,000
Subtotal
Loan Repayment (Robinson Park Recreation Center)
$1,347,000
10 I Section 108 Repayment$440,000
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$2,541,158
City of Pasadena
Attachment A
HOME Partnership Investment Act (HOME)
2024-2025 Funding Recommendations
ff
1 PROPOSED PROJECT/ACTIVITY
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Housing Department, City of Pasadena
HOME Administration
FUNDING AMOUNT
$150,000
2Community Housing Development Organization
(CHDO)$102,823
3Affordable Housing Rehabilitation$259,082
4Housing Department, City of Pasadena
Home Enhancement Loan Program (HELP)$300,000
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$811,905
Emergency Solutions Grant (ESQ) Program
2024-2025 Funding Recommendations
#
1 PROPOSER/PROPOSED PROJECT
HOMELESSNESS
Housing Department, City of Pasadena
ESG Administration
FUNDING AMOUNT
$14,235
2Homeless Prevention$70,229
3Emergency Shelter$105,343
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$189,807
GRAND TOTAL OF FUNDS PROGRAMMED FOR 2024-2025
FUNDING SOURCE
Community Development Block Grant
FUNDING AMOUNT
$2,541,158
HOME Investment Partnership Grant$811,905
Emergency Solutions Grant$189,807
GRAND TOTAL FUNDING
RECOMMENDATION$3,542,870
EXHIBIT 2
Attachment A
City of Pasadena
Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program
2025 Funding Recommendations
#T
1 PROPOSER/PROPOSED PROJECT]-^j^j^^^^^
PLANNING & ADMINISTRATION
Housing & Career Services Department, City of Pasadena
CD8G Program Administration$460,000
2Finance Department
5ecffo/i 108 Repayment (Robinson Recreation Center)$440,000 3 Subtotal
PUBLIC SERVICES
College Access Plan
College Champions
$900,000
$48,400
4Flintridge Center
Youth of Promise$75,000
5Foothill Unity Center, Inc.
Food Distribution Program$75.000
6Reading Partners
Individualized Literacy Support$75,000
7 Subtotal
INFRASTRUCTURE IMPROVEMENTS
Public Works Department, City of Pasadena
Pasadena Sidewalk Improvements
$273.400
$500,000
8Public Works Department, City of Pasadena
ADA Pushbutton Upgrade$300,000
9Economic Development Division, City of Pasadena
Commercial Facade Improvement Program$200,500
10Economic Development Division, City of Pasadena
Disaster Relief Funds for Micro-Enterprises$125,500
Sub-Total$1,126.000
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$2,299,400
HOME Partnership Investment Act (HOME)
2025 Funding Recommendations
ft
1 PROPOSED PROJECT/ACTIVITY
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Housing, City of Pasadena
HOME Administration
FUNDING AMOUNT
$150,000
3Housing, City of Pasadena
Tenant-Based Rental Assistance Program$300,000
4National Core
Ramona Senior Housing Project
$2,243,927
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$2,693,927
Attachment A
n"
1 Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) Program
2025 Funding Recommendations
PROPOSER/PROPOSED PROJECTT
sHOMELESSNESS
ESG Administration
FUNDING AMOUNT
$51,735
2HMIS Management$40,000
3Homeless Prevention$175,000
4 5
Emergency Shelter
Rapid Rehousing
$283,619
$356,250
TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$906,635
GRAND TOTAL OF FUNDS PROGRAMMED FOR 2025
FUNDINGSOURCE
Community Development Block Grant
FUNDING AMOUNT
$2,299,400
HOME Investment Partnership Grant$2,693,927
Emergency Solutions Grant$906,635
GRAND TOTAL FUNDING RECOMMENDATION$5,899,962