City Council Passes Ordinance Expanding Emergency Shelter Sites – Pasadena Now | #citycouncil

The City Council on Monday unanimously passed on first reading an ordinance which seeks to provide homeless people more access to supportive services and potential shelter locations. 

The legislation is needed to bring the Zoning Code current and in line with the city’s Housing Element.

Like all other cities in California, Pasadena is required to update its Housing Element, a community-specific approach to “how” and “where” housing will be addressed to meet the needs of the community, on a regular basis.

The City Council adopted the Housing Element in July 2022. It was certified by the California Department of Housing and Community Development in March 2023. 

The ordinance approved Monday will expand zones that allow “emergency shelters” as a conditionally permitted use and “emergency shelters, limited” as a by-right use, and update the operational standards for both emergency shelter uses and will allow  “low barrier navigation centers” as a by-right use.

The ordinance will also allow longer stays in emergency shelters and will allow homeless people to park vehicles on sites occupied by colleges and churches.

The Zoning Code amendment will update emergency bed capacity above the current 12-bed limit to a maximum of 40 beds allowing up to 2,400 shelter beds from the current 372 beds.

The amendments will also revise parking requirements based on shelter staffing needs versus based on shelter beds. From one parking space for every four beds to one space per every two on-site staff members.

Additionally, it will allow safe parking as an accessory use on up to 74 sites occupied by transit stations, colleges, and religious facilities in non-residential zones. 69 of these sites belong to religious institutions.

Mayor Victor Gordo was absent when the City Council made the recent decision.

The recent homeless count shows that 556 people are experiencing homelessness in Pasadena in 2023, up from 512 people in last year’s count.

The City reported 527 people experiencing homelessness in 2020 and 542 in 2019. There was no count in 2021 due to the pandemic.

Last year, 310 people experiencing homelessness in Pasadena were permanently housed.