Tuesday, March 24, 2020

An open letter to the Pasadena City Council on addressing the needs of homeless residents during the Covid 19 crisis



Dear Mayor Tornek and City Council members,

We want to commend you for marathon session on Tuesday March 17 in which measures were taken to address the Coronavirus crisis, including a much needed eviction moratorium. Thank you for taking important first steps towards addressing the issue of evictions, a major cause of homelessness (14% of those on the street report that eviction was the cause, according to the 2019 Homeless Count). We feel, however, that given the anticipated economic downturn, the payback period for rent may need to be extended beyond six months.

As the Homeless Housing Subcommittee of the Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group (GPAHG), our main concern is the welfare of our homeless neighbors.

We have consulted with City staff and others and are convinced that they doing their best to meet the needs of our homeless population.  We applaud these efforts. Here are some further ideas:

1.   Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

While significant progress is being made, we recommend that all those who are working with our homeless and low-income population (including volunteers in meal programs) receive priority for PPE.

2.   Information Sharing and Guidance to our Homeless Population

We appreciate that the City is working on ways to get important information to our unhoused neighbors such as social distancing, frequent hand washing, when and how to go to the hospital, etc.  The Health Department website contains a wealth of excellent material, but to be useful, it needs to circulate.  We would be willing to assist in the distribution of information via our networks.

3,Emergency Housing

We appreciate that the City has already secured motel/hotel rooms for vulnerable homeless residents who are not known to have been exposed to Coronavirus and are not symptomatic, and that City staff are working on funding for these rooms. This funding needs to be an urgent priority.
We have been advised that the City is working on obtaining rooms for those homeless residents who need to be quarantined, but this has been difficult.  Given that the motels may be facing tough times with potential customers sheltering in place, the city is in an ideal position to negotiate master leasing or even purchasing motels in partnership with an affordable housing developer-- initially for quarantine purposes and eventually for homeless housing.   

Trailers.  Thank you for requesting FEMA trailers.  If you need sites, we know of at least two churches that could provide potential sites for these trailers.

Congregate shelters.  We understand that, after discussion with public health experts, the City believes congregate shelters are not a good option because there will not be social distancing in gymnasiums, etc.  We agree that motels are the best option, but we encourage the City to have a “Plan B”  ready in case there are not enough motel beds available.  That would mean identifying recreational centers, schools, etc. that could be used as congregate shelters, those with showers, toilets and sinks, along with some sort of partitions to maintain social distancing.  Perhaps the closed St. Luke’s Hospital, which already has separate rooms with toilets, etc. could be investigated to see if this is an option for “worst-case scenario.”

In the event of “worst case scenario” we encourage you to allow tents in designated areas for those who are unsheltered.

Thank you for agreeing not enforce overnight parking laws for people sleeping in cars. We have two churches interested in providing their lots for safe parking and hope that the city could partner with us on this.

3.   Hygiene

We commend the City for addressing this issue. We’d like to call your attention to the fact that some of the churches have showers and other facilities that could be used. We are willing to identify these churches and encourage them to offer their facilities.

It is also imperative to increase the number of porta potties open 24/7 now that many restaurants and other facilities are closed.

COVID Hygiene Kits.  We understand that the City is looking at distributing these with hygiene items along with important COVID 19 information, but there is a huge problem trying to procure the items.  If the City can get the items for the kits and needs volunteers to distribute them, please let us know.

4.   Food Insecurity

We understand that the City is contacting volunteer organizations to gauge whether they can continue and expand their meal programs. Food is essential not only for nourishment but also to help keep very low-income people housed, since many cannot afford both rent and food. Since Union Station and others may need volunteers to deliver food to scattered sites, we are willing to use our network to inform people of this need and help recruit volunteers.

5.   Permanent supportive and affordable housing at the Civic Center. Experts predict that there will likely be a recession and perhaps much worse as a result of the Covid 19 crisis. The need for affordable and homeless housing will be greater than ever. For this reason, we urge you to approve homeless as well as affordable housing at the Civic Center.

Again, we appreciate all that the City is doing to protect our homeless population.  We stand ready and willing to help in those efforts in any way where we can.

Anthony Manousos
Teresa Eilers
Ferne Hayes
Bert Newton
Areta Crowell
Jill Shook


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