Pasadena Doubles its Fortune with New Federal and State Funds to Combat Homelessness

Pasadena’s Continuum of Care (CoC), a coalition of homeless and housing service groups, has been awarded a total of $3.176 million from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and from the State of California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to combat homelessness in the City, it was announced Tuesday.

The CoC is led by the Pasadena Partnership to End Homelessness (Pasadena Partnership), with the City of Pasadena acting as its lead agency.

The funded projects include include $75,676 for medium term Rapid Rehousing, and $58,705 for short term Rapid Rehousing, according to an announcement from the Pasadena Department of Housing.

The awards will also fund permanent supportive housing projects including Euclid Villa ($172,622); CHOISS Program Scattered Site Housing ($243,881); Hestia House ($246,411), Holly Street Housing ($878,740; Navarro House ($46,226), and five additional CoC Rental Assistance Grants ($1,096,971).

“This effectively doubles the amount of emergency solutions money that we have available to us,” said Anne Lansing, project planner for the City of Pasadena Housing Department. We’re very excited to get these funds out to the community to help us combat homelessness,” she added.

The HUD award will fund 15 CoC projects that were included in the application submitted to HUD for funding as part of the annual Continuum of Care homeless funding competition. These projects will provide rapid re-housing, permanent supportive housing, and coordinated entry to homeless individuals and families in Pasadena. Rapid re-housing allows homeless individuals and families to quickly transition into permanent housing, minimizing unnecessary trauma and dislocation.

Permanent supportive housing provides permanent housing to individuals and families with a disability, prioritizing those who are chronically homeless, according to the announcement. Coordinated entry is a process through which the most vulnerable homeless residents are prioritized to be matched with the available and appropriate housing resources in a systematic and efficient manner.

Additional projects funded include CoC Coordinated Entry System ($124,423); the 2015 CoC Planning Project ($92,521), and a Homeless Management Information System ($140,378).

The State HCD has awarded the City $150,000 in new funding for targeted programs to prevent and combat homelessness. These funds will be allocated through a competitive process to non profit agencies with experience serving this population. Prioritized services will include homeless prevention and rapid re-housing programs.

Grants awarded in the 2016 competition will provide funding for the 2017 and 2018 fiscal years.