Pasadena Community Foundation Announces Two New Grants for Permanent Supportive Housing

Pasadena Community Foundation (PCF) will makegrants totaling more than $500,000 to address the crisis of homelessness inPasadena and its surrounding communities. The San Gabriel Valley Habitat forHumanity and Salvation Army will receive grants to build new permanentsupportive housing in Pasadena for people experiencing homelessness. PCF workedclosely with the City of Pasadena Housing Office and Housing Director BillHuang to evaluate the city’s current needs and assess how funds from PCF couldbe used to the greatest impact.

“PCF has long supported organizations servingour neighbors experiencing homelessness,” said Jennifer DeVoll, PasadenaCommunity Foundation president and CEO. “In the past three months, the PCFCOVID-19 Response Fund allowed us to respond to immediate needs related to thepandemic and increase our support for local nonprofits that provide food,temporary shelter, and social services to our most vulnerable populations.”

“Planning for this housing initiative wasunderway prior to the COVID-19 crisis. With the economic fallout from thepandemic expected to last for years, these projects are more critical than everto address current and future needs,” DeVoll continued. “These grants extendour funding from emergency shelter to longer term solutions like permanentsupportive housing, which is one of the most effective tools to break the cycleof homelessness.”

San Gabriel ValleyHabitat for Humanity will receive a grant to add astudio apartment accessory dwelling unit (ADU) to a single-family home to housefour women exiting homelessness. Habitat undertook the project in partnershipwith the City of Pasadena, which purchased the home from Cal-Trans. In the twoyears since California legalized the construction of ADUs in all cities,building permits for ADUs increased by 3000% in Los Angeles, demonstratingtheir potential to ease the housing shortages that plague Pasadena. Thisproject will serve as a pilot for future Habitat for Humanity efforts to createaffordable ADU housing for individuals and families at risk of or experiencinghomelessness. The project will break ground in August 2020 and is targeted forcompletion in February 2021. The residents will be selected by Union StationHomeless Services from among low-acuity women in their programs, meaning theyare ready to live independently and require minimal supportive services.

“This grant from Pasadena Community Foundation,along with the partnership of the City of Pasadena Office of Housing and UnionStation Homeless Services, will not only enable San Gabriel Valley Habitat forHumanity to directly impact permanent, supportive housing for womenexperiencing homelessness, but will provide valuable insights into the use ofADUs as a part of our affordable homeownership program. This will mean manyadditional opportunities in the years to come for those ready to experience thepermanent, generational change that homeownership brings,” said Mark Van Lue,San Gabriel Valley Habitat for Humanity executive director.

The Salvation Army willreceive a grant to support the construction of Hope Center, a new, mixed-use,multi-level building that will include an expanded food bank and socialservices delivery space. The top three floors will house 64 men, including 16veterans, at high risk for chronic homelessness due to significant mentalhealth and substance abuse issues. The $38 million project is funded with acombination of public and private funds, including investment from the City ofPasadena, and will be built at the site of Salvation Army’s existing foodpantry and small office building beginning in June 2021.

“We’re grateful for the support of the PasadenaCommunity Foundation,” said Captain Terry Masango of The Salvation ArmyPasadena Tabernacle Corps. “The Hope Center gives us greater tools to addressthe homeless crisis in Greater Pasadena and change lives in immeasurable ways.The Salvation Army has been part of this community for nearly a century, andthis new building will ensure that our service will only grow into the future.

The 2020 Pasadena Homeless Count found that ratesof homelessness have remained flat from 2019 to 2020, despite a longer-termdecline over the past decade. Pasadena’s investments in response services haveled to fewer people living on the streets, but the survey found that more thanhalf of the city’s homeless population are chronically homeless. Serviceproviders, funders, and city officials are also closely monitoring the lack ofaffordable housing in Southern California, which was driving increased housinginsecurity even before the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. It is estimated that 55.8%of renter households in Los Angeles County are cost-burdened and 30.4% areseverely cost burdened, meaning that more than 30% and 50% of their income ispaid towards housing, respectively.

“The common theme we heard throughout ourassessment process was the straightforward need for more long-term housing forpeople experiencing homelessness,” said DeVoll. “This grant initiative willmove us closer to that goal through collaboration with the City of Pasadena andtwo partner organizations with the experience and opportunity to provide theseeffective solutions in our community, and we are proud to support theirefforts.”

More from Community