Forum Thursday Expected to Tackle Pro’s and Con’s of Creating a Pasadena Housing Commission

“There’s a huge housing crisis here in Pasadena and throughout L.A. County,” said Pasadena’s Director of Housing and Career Services Bill Huang on Monday.

That crisis has led some to advocate for the creation of a Pasadena Housing Commission.

On Thursday the City’s Housing & Career Services Department is hosting an Affordable Housing Workshop from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. that will present a panel of six local experts who work and are involved in affordable housing services and who represent both pro- and anti- Housing Commission viewpoints.

The discussion will examine the pros and cons that could come with creating a new city commission to change the way in which affordable housing operates, organizers said.

“The people who are speaking against the housing commission are also advocates of affordable housing and we are also all involved in the production of affordable housing. Not only do we support it, but we actually work in the field. We just aren’t seeing a connection between the Housing Commission and affordable housing,” said one panelist, City of Pasadena Design and Transportation Advisory Commission Representative Blair Miller.

Some opponents feel that establishing a housing commission will only add difficulty and time needed to finish housing projects.

‘It already takes a lot of time to develop, where creating a Housing Commission would add another step to to an already lengthy process,” said Huang. He pointed out the supply of public dollars is “already scarce.”

There are currently over 260 affordable units under construction in Pasadena with another 400 in the pipeline, according to Huang.

The city’s efforts have been recognized nationally by the Urban Land Institute and earned the city the 2014 Robert C. Larson Housing Policy Leadership Award for the best housing policy in the country alongside Austin, Texas.

According to the Urban Land Institute website, Pasadena’s housing policy and programs have resulted in the development of over 5,000 housing units in transit-oriented areas, including 1,370 units of affordable and workforce housing.

“The homeless population in L.A. County for the last six years has increased approximately forty percent, while the city of Pasadena’s homeless population decreased by fifty-four percent,”said Huang.

Supporters of the Housing Commission see it as being a tool to keep Pasadena diverse and economically stable.

“The issues that come with affordable housing typically aren’t addressed in a public engagement way,” said Affordable Housing Services Executive Director Michelle White. “The PUSD is impacted greatly when these families leave. Much of the funding depends on student attendance.”

These issues impact approximately 23,000 low-income households in Pasadena alone. The lack of affordable rent ultimately drives families out of the city which then takes students out of the PUSD, which is an economic dilemma, according to White.

“We also need attention being paid to preserving the affordable housing that we have right now and also coming up with way for dealing with families who are not homeless, but struggling to remain living in Pasadena.”

The workshop is intended to be a source of input that can be presented to the City Council as a means for further understanding and determining if this is a viable option for the community, according to Huang.

The public is encouraged to attend the debate and ask questions and weigh in with individual opinions. Additional panelists include author Jill Shook, Reverend Hannah Petrie, Charles Loveman from Heritage Housing Partners and Ali Barar from Gonzalez Goodale Architects. The event will be hosted by Rose City Church Reverend Dan Davidson.

The Pasadena Affordable Housing Workshop takes place Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at the Renaissance Plaza Community Room located at 649 N. Fair Oaks, Suite 203.