We Get Letters

Dear Editor,

As a resident of Pasadena who has been following the efforts of the City and of various non profit organizations to find answers for those who sleep without shelter and for those with incomes below the median who can find no affordable housing, I take exception to the tone of Erica Foy’s Opinion piece of August 10.

The insinuation that we should be alarmed that transitional and supportive housing be included in plans for formerly retail areas is naive.  The Housing First approach has proved successful in integrating formerly homeless individuals and families into the community and allowing them to improve their quality of life.  Permanent supportive housing can include green space, follow neighborhood design patterns and easily fit into the fabric of our beautiful city.  Drive by Marv’s Place sometime and see.

Pasadena will be healthy and successful if we can include affordable housing options for all who live and work here.

Respectfully,

Ferne Hayes

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Dear Editor:

Like Erika Foy, the author of a recent guest opinion in Pasadena Now, I too am concerned about the East Colorado Specific Plan update, but not because there may be blocked views of the mountains for residents, there may be too much density, or because it may result in a loss of a “small-town feel.” I am deeply concerned at the update’s lack of any meaningful discussion of our housing affordability crisis or our homelessness crisis.  

While there is some discussion about increasing residential uses, what is the plan for making residential developments actually affordable?  There is mention of family and student housing with no plan or discussion of affordability. 

Our City is so very far short of very low, low and even moderate-income housing per RHNA.  We have over 500 homeless neighbors, over 300 of whom sleep on the streets at night.  We are losing  students because families can no longer afford to live here. Seniors are being priced out of our city.   We need more density, not less. 

And, while I am certainly in favor of including the planning for trees throughout our City,  we also need to have standards that will encourage the development of affordable and supportive housing.

Finally, I take issue with Ms. Foy’s statement that “[t]he listing of emergency shelters, transitional housing, and supportive housing as allowable uses along most of the East Colorado area, should also raise a lot of concerns among residents.”  It should not, and it does not. The many residents who are now knowledgeable about our severe and urgent affordable/supportive housing crisis are amenable to addressing that crisis with thoughtful planning throughout our City, including in their own neighborhoods.  The fearmongering has to stop.  We all need to be part of the solution. 

Sonja K. Berndt, Esq. (retired)

East Pasadena

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Dear Editor:

Erica Foy expresses concern that the “East Colorado Blvd. could become a massive stretch of concentrated transitional/supportive housing with little public input.” Her statement is misleading and not grounded in facts.

First, when the City Council passed the Motel Conversion ordinance in 2018 , it required that the motel conversion be discretionary, not by right. So the public will have a say in whether a project is approved. Second, many unhoused people currently live in this area and occupy inexpensive motels where there are drug users and prostitutes. Turning these motels into supportive housing would make the community safer since formerly unhoused people would live in their own apartments with a case manager and receive the services they need to help them become productive residents of our city. All of the 19 formerly homeless families at Marv’s Place now have jobs or are in school. None are causing any problems to the neighborhood where they reside.

Thirdly, motel conversion is contingent upon the number of project-based housing vouchers supplied by the federal government. These vouchers are required to make the project financially feasible. The City used almost all of its project-based vouchers for supportive housing projects so it would be difficult to convert even one motel. Finally, the City Council agreed that it would permit only three motel conversions and then evaluate whether the program was working.

In the past two and a half years, there hasn’t been a single motel conversion to supportive housing. Therefore, Foy’s fears regarding supportive housing are ungrounded.

Why should anyone fear affordable housing? It is indistinguishable from market rate housing and doesn’t lower property values of adjacent residences. There is a need for affordable housing in all parts of our city. If it is spread out, instead of concentrated in one area, everyone benefits. That’s why inclusionary housing is such a great policy. Because of the inclusionary ordinance, developers of new projects are required to set aside 20% of their units as affordable (or pay an in lieu fee). Low-income people live in deluxe apartment complexes and do not cause any problems.

A healthy city needs a mix of people at different income levels living together: teachers, health care workers, janitors, police, hotel workers, house cleaners, and computer programmers. When there is affordable housing for everyone, the entire city benefits. Low-income people don’t have to commute long-distances (and create traffic jams) to work in our city. They can use public transportation and reduce traffic and pollutions.

Finally, we are in a housing crisis that is worsening dramatically because of the economic downturn caused by Covid 19. The number of people experiencing homelessness could increase by 45% by the end of this year, according to a Columbia study. If we don’t want to see the number of homeless people in our city rise dramatically, we need more affordable and supportive housing.

Yours in friendship and peace,

Anthony Manousos

Got something to say, email Managing Editor André Coleman, at andrec@pasadenanowmagazine.com