Thirty-five percent of Pasadena’s homeless population suffer from serious mental health conditions, according to a breakdown of self-reported disabilities and long-term health conditions collected during the city’s most recent homeless count.
The collected statistics showed 28 percent of the homeless population report suffer from chronic health conditions, 25 percent from physical disabilities, 24 percent suffer from substance use issues, and 15 percent have some kind of developmental disability.
In addition, 23% and 12% of the unsheltered population indicated they had PTSD or had a traumatic brain injury, respectively.
William K. Huang, Pasadena Director of Housing, submitted the report as a response to City Councilmembers who requested for disability statistics and for reports from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), an independent joint powers authority that plans and coordinates housing and services for homeless families and individuals in Los Angeles County.
The request was made at the City Council’s meeting Monday, May 16, when the Council also received the report about the 2022 Pasadena Homeless Count, which was conducted in February.
The City Councilmembers also requested information about the LAHSA’s Report on Black People Experiencing Homelessness. Huang said the report can be accessed through www.lahsa.org/documents?id=2823-report-and-recommendations-of-the-ad-hoccommittee-on-black-people-experiencing-homelessness.
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One thought on “Report: 35% of Pasadena’s Homeless Suffer Serious Mental Health Conditions”
I’m shocked that none of these folks will have the kind of in-patient or out-patient supervised group housing they need from any of the developer friendly schemes like SB-9…. I also suspect that significant number of those that are disabled, drug addicted, and developmentally disabled are some of the aging parolee’s I see and have talked to at Lake and Washington, dumped on our streets to save the State the cost of treatment and health care in our prisons. These folks need proper mental and special needs healthcare, with safe and sanitary in and outpatient supervised housing. But it seems like almost all of these political “do-gooder” schemes to purportedly “help the homeless” are really all about helping developers and gambling interests, and that these kind of schemes and scams do nothing whatsoever for housing these folks who are the worst off in our society at all.