Group Calls on City to Use FEMA Trailers as Winter Shelters for Homeless

A local advocacy group called on the city to use FEMA trailers sitting in the Rose Bowl parking lot to help provide shelters for homeless people as a replacement for the Bad Weather Shelter, which is closed this year due to COVID-19 concerns.

“Even in more ‘normal times,’ the unhoused live in a crisis situation,” said Raquel Calderon, founder of Pasadena For All. “The pandemic only makes things more dire. In those normal times, we would look to our leaders to improve the quality of life for all people. In these difficult times, we look to them to make decisions and solve problems in the interest of saving lives and easing suffering.”

The FEMA trailers were parked at the Rose Bowl in March when the state used $50 million of a $150 million coronavirus emergency funding package to buy 1,309 travel trailers and deliver them to cities across the state to be used during the pandemic.

According to Pasadena Public Information Officer Lisa Derderian, the trailers are “in use.”

On Monday, Pasadena For All called on the City Council to consider several alternatives, including funds for motel vouchers beyond those that the city Housing Department is already requesting, tents, suspension of citations for makeshift shelters, and using all vacant city-owned property, housing, and other facilities, including the trailers. The trailers, which are currently vacant, were provided by the state for the city to use as officials see fit.

The group also called for a safe parking area and allowing people to sleep in their cars overnight without receiving citations. 

“Pasadena For All is alarmed to learn that for the first time in 30 years, there will be no Bad Weather Shelter in Pasadena this winter,” according to a prepared statement. “The city of Pasadena seems to have given up on finding any alternatives to replace this much-needed community resource. As winter temperatures and hostile respiratory conditions oppressively land on the backs of the poor and ill, unhoused Pasadena learns there will be no Bad Weather Shelter.”

Typically, the bad weather shelter is weather activated and opens in the winter at Pasadena Covenant Church when temperatures fall below 40 degrees, or when there is a 40 percent or greater chance of rain.

Operated by the nonprofit group Friends In Deed, the shelter lost its location at Covenant Church earlier this year. After a search, an alternate location was found, but staffing became an issue after a majority of staff members said they would not work in the shelter due to a fear of exposure to the virus.

Making matters worse, it would be nearly impossible to implement COVID-19 guidelines.

“After sending out an agency-wide poll, Friends In Deed found that almost 95 percent of their shelter staff had indicated that they were unable or unwilling to work this season due to various reasons, such as age, presence of an underlying health condition, or living with and caring for a relative that is high-risk for contracting COVID-19,” according to a staff report included in Monday’s City Council agenda. “Similarly, it is not practical nor prudent to rely on volunteers absent an experienced service provider to carry out these operations.”

The council was scheduled to receive an update on the shelter on Monday and vote on emergency funding for motel vouchers. 

Friends In Deed Executive Director Rabbi Joshua Grater told Pasadena Now the nonprofit is teaming with Pasadena Presbyterian Church, which hosts dinners on Thursdays and Sundays. The dinners have been converted to take-out meals due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Grater said a minimal staff from Friends In Deed will be there to pass out winter supplies, including ponchos, umbrellas, blankets, and socks. On Sunday nights, nursing students from Azusa Pacific University will come in and do a checkup. Flu shots and COVID-19 tests may also be provided, but that has not been confirmed. 

Grater said he inquired about using the FEMA trailers, but so far he has been told they are not available. 

“We have been working on this since June on a weekly basis and I have asked about the FEMA trailers,” Grater said. “So far, we have been told they are not available. It’s a perfect setup for what we would want to do.”