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| Homelessness among seniors is on the rise in Pasadena and other cities. |
While I feel strongly that housing homeless seniors at South Heritage Square is a moral and social justice issue--and every religious leader and every person of conscience I've spoken to agrees--I also feel that there are sound economic reasons for mixed use of this property. I have great sympathy for small businesses--my mother used to run a small grocery store and I ran a nonprofit for Quakers for many years. That's why I'd like to see small businesses along with homeless housing on this property--it's a "win-win" for everyone. Commercial development plus housing the homeless will provide the greatest economic benefit for Northwest Pasadena, the area where I live and worship and shop.
Every one we've spoken to thinks it's crazy for the city to sell this property for commercial use and forfeit a million dollars in HUD funding. People shake their heads or laugh incredulously when we tell them that some say there's "too much" affordable housing in this area. Northwest Pasadena (along with the rest of our City) is losing affordable housing at an alarming rate. Many landlords are no longer accepting Section 8 vouchers and homeless service providers say there's a dire shortage of places to house the homeless in our City. The homeless count has been rising in the past couple of years, and it will continue to rise if the City Council doesn't take action.Homelessness is not only a moral crisis, it's also bad for business. In a video about Marv's Place that John Kennedy showed at a recent community meeting, Paul Little, CEO of the Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, said, “Local businesses don’t feel the impact of permanent supportive housing. If there is an impact, it’s a positive one because there are fewer people in doorways, fewer people sleeping on sidewalks, or under bridges."
Homeless seniors are sleeping around South Heritage Square. That's why the City spent thousands of dollars to build a fence around the South Heritage Square property. Now instead of sleeping on city-owned property, homeless people are sleeping in the bushes near the businesses in this area. This isn't good for businesses, but what can we do if we don't have housing for our most vulnerable citizens? Put homeless seniors in jail, or somehow drive them out of the city? We've spoken to business owners and they would rather see these homeless seniors housed in permanent supportive housing rather than living on the street.
If the property is mixed use, including supportive housing, will it generate local jobs? The City can require local hires for the supportive housing portion of the project. For Heritage Square North, 20% were local hires, and 60% of materials used were purchased locally. Supportive housing would provide economic benefits to the local community in ways that commercial development could not guarantee. Heritage Square left $ 6 million in the City because of its policy to provide local contracts and supplies. The beauty of Heritage Square North is not a stigma, but an asset to the community.
If the property is
developed for commercial use, will it generate local jobs? Unlike city funded projects, such as
affordable housing, there is no requirement for commercial developers to hire
local contractors. Nor are commercial ventures required to hire local
employees. Therefore, commercial development would not necessarily
provide any jobs for local residents nor would there be any
requirement for material to be purchased locally.
Does it make sense to
have mixed use on corner lots? The corner of Los Robles and Orange Grove has mixed use on a
corner lot and that’s true of most corner lots in Old Town. It actually makes
more economic sense to have mixed use than to have a one-story commercial
property, like the CVS on the corner of Orange Grove and Fair Oaks.
The need for
supportive housing for Pasadena’s homeless residents is growing rapidly. The number of homeless residents
in our City has increased for a second year in a row. The current estimate is
that it has grown by 33% in the past year, from 575 to 677 (this is a
preliminary, non-official number). Since there is no supportive housing
in the city pipeline, this number of homeless residents will undoubtedly
increase. Reducing our homeless population by providing housing will make
our community safer and better for business.
What are the
financial benefits of housing homeless seniors? Homeless seniors are likely to
cost society more money in health care than younger and healthier homeless
residents. Given the City’s budget crunch, it makes more economic sense
to house homeless seniors in facilities with services provided by the County’s
Measure H funding than to let them sicken and die on the streets, with various
agencies in the City footing enormous medical bills. A Rand showed that housing
homeless residents has saved the county $1.20 for every dollar spent on
housing and supportive services.[1] According to an Economic
Roundtable study, the cost of dealing with a homeless individual in LA County
is around $5038 per month, vs $605 per month when they are provided with supportive
housing. These costs increase with the age of homeless individuals. Based on
this study, we can estimate the cost to Pasadena of having 69 homeless seniors
living on the street to be around $4,171,464 per year. Housing them in
supportive housing would run around $500,940, a savings of $3,670,524. This
would be a huge financial benefit to our City. [2]
[1] “The financial impact of the program [supportive housing] could be dramatic, according to the report, which analyzed the experiences of 890 participants. The cost of services provided to those in the program fell by 60 percent in the year after they found permanent housing (from an average of $38,146 in the year before to $15,358 the next year).That drop is partially offset by the cost of operating the program (participants receive $825 per month housing vouchers and case management services worth about $450 per month). But, even with those costs factored in, the study found a 20 percent decrease in county expenses related to those residents.”https://la.curbed.com/2017/12/5/16738952/la-homelessness-housing-for-health-studyhttps://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-12-la-homeless-housing-money.html. http://articles.latimes.com/2012/jun/08/local/la-me-0608-homeless-savings-20120608
[2] These statistics are taken from the Economic Roundtable website and date back to 2009. https://economicrt.org/publication/where-we-sleep/
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