Guest Opinion | Rabbi Joshua Levine Grater: How We Are Providing Shelter This Winter

[UPDATED] As we head into the winter months, and Friends In Deed and community partners take on the mantle of providing shelter to as many of our neighbors experiencing homelessness as we can, I wanted to clarify a few things about the program known as “motel vouchers.”

The name of this program is misleading, and something we have discussed with the government in terms of how they label the funding. It is actually not a “voucher” in the traditional sense of the word. There are no slips of paper that are handed out to be taken to a specific motel to check-in for the night. At Friends In Deed, we have a certain amount of funding to spend on motel nights. It is our responsibility to locate the motels that are willing to work with us in providing a motel room for one of our clients. We have a few motels that we already work with, and are seeking to establish relationships with more motels to expand our capacity.

Our motel program, similar to the Bad Weather Shelter, is weather-activated, which means it is forecast for 40 degrees or colder or 40% chance of rain for a given night. Our director will check the weather each morning, determine if we are open or not for that night, and then update our phone hotline with the information.

Every Thursday regardless of weather, and on all other weather-activated nights, our team will be at First United Methodist Church from 5pm-7pm to offer cold weather supplies and food bags to those folks that come.. In addition, we will have a LIMITED number of motel rooms available. First and foremost, this will depend on how many open rooms we can locate. Our goal is to have 15 rooms available on any given night. We are not sure if this many rooms will be possible. The first rooms available will go to the most vulnerable folks: people 60+, anyone with a disability or underlying health condition, and females. After we place any of these folks, and if we have other rooms open, it will be first come, first served without any criteria.

We are also working with Pasadena’s Dial-a-Ride program to transport folks to the motels. Our liaisons will meet them at the motels, check them in and review the rules and do an intake. In the morning, the clients will need to check out and are responsible for getting themselves back to whatever location they desire. If the weather is forecast to activate our programs for that night, this process will begin again. If possible, we may be able to keep folks in their rooms for another night without checking out.

I am sharing this detailed information so that the community and local officials understand how it works and what the process is. We are already getting calls from people asking how someone can get a “voucher” and where they should go for help. Starting on January 6th, the above described program will begin, and run through mid-March as funding permits.

We wish that Pasadena had a more robust program to get our most vulnerable neighbors off the street during harsh weather, and share that concern with many of you. We are doing what we can to help with the limited resources and minimal locations available.

So, if you see people in need, please direct them to First United Methodist Church any Thursday from 5pm-7pm starting 1/6/22 or on weather-activated nights. You can call the hotline for the most current information, 888-915-8111. Or email our director, Lindsey Reed, lindseyr@friendsindeedpas.org.