Forum on Just and Fair Housing in Pasadena

The Westgate project (Photo – Pasadena Housing Department)

All Pasadena affordable housing advocates are invited to attend a community forum to discuss the updating of Pasadena’s Housing Element.

By New Desk

The program titled, “Planning Just and Fair Housing Solutions for our City” is scheduled to take place via Zoom on Saturday, January 23, 2021, 3:00 – 4:30 pm (click to register).

The updated Housing element must be submitted by the City to the State by October 2021.  It will guide the provisioning of housing in the City until 2028.

“The Housing Element is a powerful tool to solicit community input in planning for sufficient housing for all income levels for the next eight years,” said Jill Shook, Executive Director of MHCH.

The Pasadena Affordable Housing Coalition, is organized by Pasadenans Organizing for Progress (POP), Making Housing and Community Happen (MHCH) and Abundant Housing LA (AHLA). “We have a golden opportunity to participate in shaping this policy,” Shook continued.

“The Pasadena Affordable Housing Coalition’s goal is simple, said Rick Cole, member of POP’s Housing Justice Committee.

Cole reasoned:

Everyone in our city should have access to safe and affordable housing. The Housing Element process is our chance to work together as a community to shape City policy so we can accomplish that goal.

The Pasadena Affordable Housing Coalition is a collaborative effort with Abundant Housing LA which is organizing communities and housing activists across the San Gabriel Valley to take part in their respective City’s Housing Element plans.

“Pasadena is the anchor city in the San Gabriel Valley.  We are in the midst of a severe and worsening housing crisis,” stated Margaret Munoz, a local organizer with AHLA.

“It’s a crisis that strikes at the heart of many of the biggest challenges facing Pasadena and other cities,” Munoz said.  “Homelessness and rent burdens are at all-time highs.  It’s time for Pasadena housing activists to join with the City and write a housing policy that guides our future.”