An Apartment building on S. Eculid Avenue in Pasadena (Photo – ColoradoBlvd.net).
The Pasadena Affordable Housing Coalition is calling on the Pasadena City Council to continue amending the Draft Housing Element that it submitted to the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) on December 29, 2021.
By News Desk
On Monday, February 28, the Coalition forwarded to the City Council its assessment of the Housing Element revision sent to Sacramento by the City in December 2021. In its February 10 communication to the HCD, the Coalition observed that the “Revised Draft” of the Housing Element submitted by the City does not adequately address the deficiencies pointed out to the City by the State in October 2021.
Among the areas in the revised draft of the Housing Element that the Coalition stated needed to be addressed further are: flawed site analysis, failure to adequately address “affirmatively furthering fair housing” as required by State and Federal law, lack of commitment to streamlining Pasadena’s cumbersome and subjective entitlement process, promising to study ideas rather than detailing actionable programs, and overestimating future production of Accessory Dwelling Units.
The Coalition also noted that the City has failed to achieve adequate public participation from various community economic segments, and it failed to take notice or mention the 26 specific policy solutions recommended to the City in public comments last summer.
“The Draft Housing Element in its current form does adequately address the current status of affordable housing when hundreds of Pasadena renters face eviction, thousands struggle to pay rent and young families are priced out of home ownership,” said Ed Washatka, one of the Coalition’s leaders and a board member of Pasadenans Organizing for Progress.
All Southern California cities were required to revise their Housing Elements in 2021 as blueprints for citywide housing policies over the next eight years, including demonstrating to the State that they can produce the target number of new units required by the RHNA.
Pasadena’s new RHNA target is 9,400 units to be built in the next eight years, of which nearly 6,000, are required to be affordable for very low, low- and moderate-income households. In its revised Housing Element submission to the State, the City did not submit any modification of current land use policies and practices.
“The City will not be able to meet the affordable housing unit mandated targets unless it changes its land use policies,” said Washatka. “We look forward to continued public dialogue with City staff, the Planning Commission and the City Council to devise workable policy solutions that address our community’s affordable housing needs.”
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