Pasadena Homelessness Survey Results: Permanent Housing, Mental Health Services Should Be Expanded, Committee to Hear

The City’s Housing Department released results of an online survey that was conducted to get feedback from the community at large and service providers about homelessness in Pasadena. Results will be reported Tuesday at the City’s Northwest Commission meeting.

Out of the 216 survey responses received, 50 percent said permanent housing should be expanded. Mental health services got 40 percent, and 36 percent said emergency shelter and interim housing was in need of expansion.

Thirty-five percent said Street Outreach worked best among the three parts of Pasadena’s existing homeless response system, compared to 34 percent who said Access and Connection to Services worked best, and 28 percent who said Emergency Shelter and Interim Housing worked best.

Data also revealed that a bare three percent of the survey respondents were those who have lived or experienced homelessness. Forty-three percent of those who responded to the survey were Service Providers or Advocates, and 30 percent listed themselves as Community Members. 

Sixty-two percent of respondents identified as Black, Indigenous, and people of color (including Latino/a/x).

Under “Areas to Consider for Improvement,” 62 percent said permanent housing has the greatest need for improvement among Pasadena’s existing homeless response system, followed by mental health services, which 40 percent chose, and emergency shelter and interim housing at 36 percent.

Pasadena Partnership to End Homelessness, the principal planning entity that submits Continuum of Care (CoC) applications to the U.S. Department of Housing (HUD) conducted the online survey which ended on July 26. 

“The survey is one piece of a broader, comprehensive system analysis that is underway and includes focus groups with people with lived expertise of homelessness, targeted interviews with regional and cross-system partners, and listening sessions with key stakeholders such as homeless services providers and Pasadena Partnership committees,” Jennifer O’Reilly-Jones, Homeless Programs Coordinator at Pasadena Partnership, told Pasadena Now in July.  

“The new Homelessness Plan will serve as a guiding document for the City’s response to homelessness in the coming years,” 

Explaining the need for a new Homelessness Plan, she said Pasadena has received an influx of new funding support in the past few years to support efforts to address homelessness. 

“With this expansion in resources, there is an increasing need for an updated strategic plan to guide how our investments should be prioritized,” O’Reilly-Jones said. “In developing a new Homelessness Plan, we are part of a state-wide effort for jurisdictions to update and formalize their strategic plans to combat homelessness.” 

Homeless Numbers On the Decline in Pasadena 

The number of homeless individuals in Pasadena was down to 512 in the latest count of 2022, from 904 in 2012.

In the last three years, the numbers indicated that homelessness in Pasadena has steadily decreased, according to data provided by the Pasadena Housing Department. 

The Housing Department and CityWise, a local policy and planning consulting firm, will present an update to the Pasadena Homelessness Plan on Tuesday, Sept. 13, before the Northwest Commission.

Among other things, the update shows 277 people in Pasadena exited from homelessness in 2021 – among them 90 who entered Permanent Supportive Housing, 113 who entered Rapid Rehousing, and 74 who got into other permanent housing programs.

Members of the community may watch the presentations Tuesday before the Northwest Commission via video conference, https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83538740917 or by calling (669) 900-6833 and using the webinar ID 835 3874 0917.

Public comment may be sent via email to jwhitmore@cityofpasadena.net.

The meeting begins at 6:30 p.m.