Ending homelessness for seniors and commercial development: A "win-win" for Pasadena

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]

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[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/

[3] https://la.curbed.com/2018/3/20/17144292/homeless-housing-hhh-city-council-pledge

Housing the homeless is the theme of the interfaith gathering at the Pasadena Jewish Temple

Jill Shook with Dana Bean and Joel, a resident
of Marv's Place, permanent supportive housing
for families. Both strongly support using
the South Heritage Square property for homeless
seniors

“Housing is a key solution to end homelessness,” said Dana Bean,  Director of Development and Communications for Union Station Homeless Services, when she spoke to over 100 people who gathered  for an interfaith event at the Jewish Temple in Pasadena on Sunday, April 8. Dana Bean has been involved with Union Station for nearly 12 years because of Union Station's remarkable reputation and the positive impact it has on the community

Dana spoke of the crisis that Union Station faces trying to find housing for homeless people during Pasadena's growing affordable housing crisis. She explained that landlords aren't accepting Section 8 vouchers like they used to, and it is increasingly hard to place homeless residents in affordabale housing.

I have involved with this interfaith group for many year and was very pleased that housing the homeless has become a concern for people of all faiths--Muslims, Christians and Jews. 

During Q and A, I shared with the group that the City has land and can access funding to house 69 seniors at South Heritage Square. Ears perked up and people were very excited. Many came up to  me later to find out what they can do to make sure this land is used to house the homeless. Dana Bean was very supportive and so was Joel, a resident of Marv's Place who is featured in the video that Bill Huang produced.

I explained that the Greater Pasadena Housing Group wants mixed use of the land--commercial development plus permanent supportive housing. That's a win-win for everyone.  

To end homelessness, we need permanent supportive housing. That’s the consensus of experts: the best practice is “Housing First,” providing homeless people with stable, supportive housing with services that help them to find jobs and deal with their issues (not just place them in temporary shelters). The number of homeless residents in Pasadena has been rising recently in part because of skyrocketing housing costs. 

I explained to the group that we have a golden opportunity to provide 69 units of supportive housing for homeless seniors on city-owned property on the corner of Orange Grove and Fair Oaks. This will reduce our population of homeless seniors by over 80%. (There are 80 homeless seniors, according to a recent count). We also support having the first floor used for commercial development and the upper floors for residences. Mixed use of this property will house our seniors, make our community safer and provide local jobs.

The property on the corner of Orange Grove and Fair Oak is called Heritage Square South. It was purchased by the City 15 years ago with funds from Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and other sources to be used for affordable housing. The City Council has let it lie vacant, except for leasing part of it to Church’s Chicken. The City Council is finally considering how to utilize this property. Some Councilmembers want to see it sold and used exclusively for commercial development, even they this means forfeiting over a million dollars in HUD funding. If it is sold to commercial developers, the City cannot guarantee that a single job or a single dollar will be created for Pasadena residents. On the other hand, if the property is used for housing our homeless seniors, the City can access Measure H funding as well as state and federal funding and require that developers have local hires and contractors and use local materials. The City can also require that preferential access be given to Pasadena’s homeless residents. The city-funded North Heritage Square housing (see picture) provided over 6 million dollars in jobs and purchases for Pasadenans. None of these community benefits would be provided by exclusive commercial use.

Using this property for mixed use will not only house Pasadena seniors, it will also enhance the appearance of the neighborhood by getting seniors off the street and into a safe and beautiful setting, like Heritage Square North.

If you want to see homeless people off the street and housed in a safe, beautiful environment like Heritage Square North, please contact the Mayor and City Council members.  You can email them at  mjomsky@cityofpasadena.net.  If you want to volunteer to become a “champion” for homeless seniors and speak out at City Council, you can email me (Anthony) at interfaithquaker@aol.com or visit my blog at laquaer.blogspot.com.

This is not only good economic policy, it is also the moral and just thing to do. The city spent thousands of dollars to fence off the South Heritage Square property so homeless people wouldn’t sleep on it, but the prophet Isaiah says that it is our responsibility to house, not fence out, the homeless. That’s why we placed this reminder of God’s word on this fence. The words of the prophet speak to people of all faiths, and to all people of conscience, because it is a moral imperative.

 “Give shelter to the homeless” (Isaiah 58:7)