The City may have found a site for a bad weather shelter, according to Housing Director Bill Huang.
Responding to a query from Pasadena Now on Wednesday, Huang said.
“We have a tentative location identified and are awaiting proposals from bad weather shelter operators,” Huang said.
Huang did not identify the site on Wednesday.
Last month the City released a Request for Proposals for a Bad Weather Shelter operator, but City staff said in an agenda item that they had not yet found a shelter.
The City has been without a Bad Weather Shelter since the pandemic began.
Over the past three years, the City has spent an estimated $1.036 million across federal, state and county grant funds on weather-activated motel vouchers.
With less funding available to support weather-activated motel vouchers in the 2022-2023 winter season as a result of a federal emergency grant winding down, the City Council committed $375,000 of General Fund dollars to sustain the weather activated motel vouchers provided by Friends In Deed and the Public Health Department this past season.
During that time, 239 people were served through motel voucher program on 91 nights. From Feb. 24-26, 129 unsheltered residents stayed in motel rooms funded by the City.
The shelter operated on nights when the temperature fell to 40 degrees or there was a 40% chance of rain forecast.
The winter shelter operator will be required to provide low-barrier, safe and supportive congregate emergency shelter to single adults experiencing homelessness to protect them from inclement weather.
The City is seeking proposals from qualified non-profit entities to operate an overnight (12 hour) and 24-hour winter shelter program.
The primary objective of this RFP is to select a program operator that will be responsible for administering a low-barrier winter shelter program for people experiencing homelessness.
Last year, the Housing Department issued a request for proposals for a new site but did not receive any bids.
Friends In Deed began offering the Bad Weather Shelter in 1988 after a homeless man died while sleeping outside on a bus bench during freezing weather.
The nonprofit stepped forward to offer a reprieve from inclement weather for homeless people.
The shelter was located at Pasadena Covenant Church on Lake Avenue.
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