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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