Guest Opinion | Rick Cole: This Christmas, Let’s Find Room at the Inn for all Pasadenans

It’s a universal story. It concerns a man and his pregnant wife. After a long journey they arrive at last at the man’s hometown, only to find there’s no place to lay their heads. Tired and discouraged, they come at last to a crowded inn, but there’s no room so they ask if they can find shelter in the stable. Thus, was the prince of peace born.

This Christmas season, that story resonates in our own community.

Just before the onset of the pandemic this year, Pasadena counted more than 500 people experiencing homelessness.  At least 700 students enrolled in our public schools lack “a “fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.” Meanwhile, the Pasadena Housing Authority has a waiting list of 23,000 seeking Federal Section 8 vouchers to help them find affordable housing.  A majority of Pasadena residents are renters — and more than half of them of them pay in excess of a third of their income to keep a roof over their head. Exact statistics are hard to come by, but a study done earlier this year by the UCLA Luskin School estimated that more than 120,000 LA County residents face homelessness when the current moratorium on evictions expires.

Like the family in the Gospels, these grim numbers all have human faces.  It might be a mother who fled domestic abuse and lives in a car with her kids. Or a retired teacher who lives in fear a rent hike will force her to move from the city she loves.  Or an essential grocery worker who grew up in Pasadena and still works here, but has to drive an hour each way to afford an apartment for her family.

The pandemic has cast a shadow across this holiday season. But for those of us who can afford next month’s mortgage or rent payment, let’s count our blessings.  Too many among us are desperately counting on help to hang on to their homes – or they are already living out on the streets.

In a city where the median home price recently soared past a million dollars, we can – and must – do better in 2021.

Hundreds of people in our town are working for that goal.  Will you join them?

Non-profits like Union Station, Door of Hope, Salvation Army, and Friends in Deed work year-round to help people find and stay in a home.  All of them need volunteers and donations to maintain and expand their work.

Many in our churches, synagogues and other communities of faith are acting on their beliefs.  The local faith-based organization Making Housing and Community Happen  (MHCH) has emerged as one of the most effective local advocates for affordable housing.  Under the slogan, “There’s no place like home,” MHCH is currently spearheading a push to rezone parcels owned by religious institutions to allow affordable housing citywide.

There are other organizations advocating for policies and programs to ease the local housing crisis. The United Way’s Everyone In campaign has lobbied Pasadena’s City Council for housing justice.  So has Abundant Housing LA’s San Gabriel Valley chapter.  Pasadenans Organizing for Progress is spearheading a coalition of these groups to enlist community participation in developing a new Housing Element, which by State law must be approved by next October.  They advocate a comprehensive approach to protecting and expanding affordable housing throughout Pasadena.

Just last week, these groups mobilized residents to urge the Council to protect the safety of people living on our streets this winter.  Because of COVID-19 restrictions this year, Pasadena won’t be sponsoring a “bad weather” shelter.  Under questioning from Councilmembers, City staff pledged to provide motel vouchers during cold and rainy weather “for everyone who needs one to get off the streets.”

Our new Mayor, Victor Gordo, pledged his commitment to affordable housing during the recent campaign. One of his first proposals is to create a housing commission.  Such a group could help draft recommendations for the Housing Element, which by State law must provide a feasible framework for building nearly 6,000 units of affordable housing over the next eight years.  That’s a challenge for all of us to find workable solutions to meet that goal.

For those celebrating Christmas, the search for shelter carries special meaning — a place to lay the precious child with “no crib for a bed.”  Regardless of your faith tradition, we can all find common ground in a shared human and civic spirit: everyone in our community should have “a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence.”

This holiday, we are fortunate to live in this remarkable city, one Mayor Gordo calls “the center of the universe.”  In 2021, volunteer, donate, advocate!  Let’s work together to make Pasadena a place where there’s no place like home.

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Rick Cole is a former Mayor of Pasadena