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View Winners → Pasadena Student Speaks Up About Challenges Finding Affordable Housing During MLK Prayer Vigil
News Jan 22, 2019
Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group Sponsor a MLK prayer vigil for affordable housing.|| A Vigil for Affordable Housing was sponsored by Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group on Martin Luther King Jr Holiday in the City of Pasadena
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Mercedes aka Mercy Young a local student in the City of Pasadena shares her story about her struggle of finding Affordable Housing. – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News
By Alex Cordero
Communities in Pasadena are coming together to raise awareness, provide resources and share personal stories about facing difficult situations due to not finding an affordable place to live. The Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group sponsored a Martin Luther King Jr. prayer vigil for affordable housing on the MLK holiday. A young individual by the name of Mercedes (aka Mercy Young) took this opportunity to share her personal story about her experience with finding affordable housing, which has become a common topic among young adults in the City of Pasadena.
“I am one of three family members left, out of four generations of African-Americans that lived, worked and went to school right here in this community” Mercy said. She shared that the reason why there are only a few family members left is because they could not afford to live in Pasadena. Her great-grandfather came to live in California back in the mid-1950s and signed a deed to purchase property in Altadena that read “No Negroes Allowed.” It was common to deal with racially discriminatory housing agreements written on property deeds at the time “but little did they know that my great-grandfather the first African-American civil engineer of LA was indeed Black.” She continued her story by sharing that her great-grandfather had fair skin and was able to pass as a white man, and so was able to get ahead in life, in part, because of that reason. Although her great-grandfather has passed along and the house he purchased in Altadena no longer exists, Mercy went on to say that the only reason she is still living in Pasadena is because of affordable housing.
Mercy continued by stating that three years ago she lived across the street from the Chang Commons parking lot along with 100 students. “Fuller said we had to go and good luck finding a place to live. Families were devastated, international students were terrified” They all faced the same challenge of finding an affordable place to live nearby. All of the young adults working on becoming future pastors, teachers and human rights activists suddenly found themselves with nowhere to live. With a waiting list for affordable housing of over 100 people, Young was one of the lucky ones to get a call and received an offer. “But what about my Fuller colleagues, what about the people of the community who were not as lucky as I was,” she asked.
Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group Sponsor a MLK prayer vigil for affordable housing. – Photo by Alex Cordero / Beacon Media News
She also shared how she received another call shortly after her housing offer from her father. She came to find out that her favorite uncle who she admired because he was the one who taught her from an early age “to love my blackness and love my history to love who I am” was a homeless man. She asked her uncle to accept her father’s offer to go and live with him but he proceeded to change the subject. Marcy did not know that was going to be the last time she heard from her uncle before he was killed.
She urged Fuller Seminary to demonstrate “Christian leadership” and take the housing crisis as an opportunity to model doing the right thing in their business transactions and “to help students, help families, help those who cannot afford to live here.” Mercy came to the closing of her speech by quoting Martin Luther King Jr., “The time is always right to do the right thing.”
Mercy Young’s story has sadly become relatable among many living in Pasadena. Communities in Pasadena continue to listen to more young adults speaking up about their struggle with finding affordable housing in the City of Roses. If finding an affordable place to live is difficult for any adult to deal with – as a young adult with fresh goals and striving to become independent – would you agree that it could be detrimental to their future?
Greater Pasadena Affordable Housing Group meets on 520 E. Orange Grove Blvd. in Pasadena on the fourth Tuesday of every month. You may check out their Facebook at @GPAHG.
