Local Housing, Homeless Activists Fear Pandemic Will Increase Homelessness

Layoffs from business closures necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic are resulting in increased homeless in Pasadena.

‘We’re just now starting to see people becoming homeless directly as a result of the loss of jobs from COVID,” said Anne Miskey, CEO of Union Station.

“Right now it’s a trickle, but we are expecting the flood to hit us in the near future. What we find in homelessness is there’s always a bit of a delay. Someone loses a job and then they can hang on for a while, but eventually they lose housing and then they’ll become homeless.”

If that holds true it could impact the region’s already burgeoning homeless population.

On any given night about 527 people experience homelessness in Pasadena according to the 2020 homeless count.

Homelessness has risen in LA County for the third time in four years, driven in part by more and more people that cannot afford the region’s high housing costs.

Even before the outbreak began, 66,433 people were living on the streets, in shelters and in vehicles within the county, an increase of 12.7 percent from 2019.
“The judicial council rule pausing evictions, at some point that’s going to be lifted,” said Allison Henry of the Pasadena Tenants Union. “What groups are hoping to do is once that’s lifted, set up structures in place for tenants to use, you know, legal support more than they’re able to now. But I think we’re going to see a massive amount of evictions and resulting homelessness come maybe as early as August. I hope not, but it’ll come in the fall.”

Under the Judicial Council’s rule, the moratorium will last for the duration of the COVID-19 emergency.

But the moratorium does not include rental forgiveness.

Several politicians and progressive activists, including presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden, are calling for absolute rent relief for those unable to pay during the pandemic.

“There should be rent forgiveness and there should be mortgage forgiveness now in the middle of this crisis,” Biden said earlier in the month on the Snapchat show “Good Luck America.” “Not paid later — forgiveness. It’s critically important to people who are in the lower-income strata.”

That need could continue to grow as the virus surges in some of the most populous states in the country, including California.

Last week, Gov. Gavin Newsom rolled back the reopening, closing indoor dining rooms in restaurants in 19 counties. Other businesses are also prohibited from doing indoor business.

The rollback could force more businesses to close, leaving even more people unable to pay rent.

In just two and a half months, over 40 million people have filed for unemployment in the US, a surge in joblessness not seen in the U.S. since the Great Depression.

Pasadena’s unemployment rate rose above 16 percent in May.

“We know a lot of communities have had rent or eviction moratoriums, which is keeping people safe, but as those end, we’re pretty sure we’re going to start seeing people,” Miskey said. “What we are seeing now are mostly families. These are the people that lost their jobs, lost their housing and now they’re showing up at our door.