Transcript of the Pasadena Candidate Forum Candidates Forum which took place via Zoom Jan. 31, 2024. Sponsored by Making Housing and Community Happen (MHCH). To view Youtube video of the Forum, click here.
Bert Newton, Moderator: Good evening, everybody! We have with us Rick Cole, who is running for city council district two, John Doyle and Jonathan Horton who are running for District Four. Brandon Lamar, who is running for district five, and Allen Shay who is running for mayor of Pasadena. This is our second candidates forum since we became a nonprofit five years ago, Our first candidates forum took place in 2020 in person at the Orange Grove Quaker Meeting House and was attended by 150 people. 13 of the 15 candidates back then took part and and provided written responses to our questions. Over the last month we have sent multiple invitations to all the candidates and even went to the city council to invite the incumbent candidates in person. None of the incumbent candidates have accepted our invitation or sent us the written responses. We do want to note that Joanne Masuda, Gene’s Massuda’s wife, is with us and her husband is in legislative policy committee tonight. We would love to receive those written responses and we will publish them on our blog when we receive them. We’re doing our best to be inclusive and nonpartisan. We are grateful to the candidates who have shown up tonight and are willing to share their views with the voters. This is what democracy looks like. So we’re going to ask each candidate six questions about housing and homelessness, which they will get 90 seconds to answer plus they will get each get an opening and closing statement 90 seconds each. Before that. Let me first explain who we are making housing and community happen. We are a Pasadena-based, faith-rooted nonprofit that works for housing justice. A lot of our work is centered in Pasadena. But we do coalition consulting and educational work across the state and even across the nation.
We have four teams. Our safe parking team started the first safe parking program for people living in their vehicles and in the San Gabriel Valley at Trinity Lutheran Church here in Pasadena. Our congregational land team consults with congregations who want to use their land for affordable housing. They’ve worked with over 40 congregations across southern California. Our ASHA (Affordable/Supportive Housing Advocates) team organizes affordable housing campaigns here in Pasadena and has won a string of victories such as the permanent supportive housing for unhoused seniors at Heritage Square south, which is almost completed when you have time go over to Orange Grove and Fair Oaks and take a look at it. That’s the result of the organizing and advocacy of our ASHA team. Our North Fair Oaks team is working to transform the North Fair Oaks corridor here in Pasadena through a vision plan that includes among other things, complete streets, public art, and affordable housing. In addition to our four teams, our one-day housing justice institutes give birth to housing justice teams and other cities. We have done one day housing justice Institutes as nearby as Arcadia and as far away as Durham, North Carolina, giving birth to housing justice teams in those cities.
All this work is why we are holding this forum. We want to find out what are candidates for city council here in Pasadena plan to do to address the affordable housing and homelessness crisis. So let me more fully introduce each of our candidates and have them make their opening statement. We will go in alphabetical order for the opening statements the closing statements will be in reverse alphabetical order.
Rick Cole is a former mayor of Pasadena and city council member. He currently serves on the planning commission. He is a lifelong advocate for affordable housing. He’s been recognized as one of America’s public officials of the year by governing magazine for his career as the city manager in the cities of Azusa, Ventura, Santa Monica and in the city of LA where he was Deputy Mayor for budget and is now chief deputy comptroller. He also teaches part time at Occidental College and Pepperdine University. So Rick Hall please tell us why you are running and any other qualifications you have have other than those I just read.
Cole: Thank you all for attending. I would start with my service on the planning commission. Because that’s the big reason why I decided to run for city council, having been on the city council I have no great burning desire to hold the title. But what I do have is a passion for making a difference in our community. I think our city’s become complacent about the issue of affordable housing, and homelessness. That really came home to me when the staff presented the first draft of the five year strategic plan on homelessness. And to the dismay of myself and my colleagues, including Dr. Delgado, who’s on this call, it was all about socks and showers. It was about mitigating the misery of people out on the street, not ending the misery of people out on the street. And to have over 300 people out on the street every night in the city of Pasadena is a preventable tragedy. Homelessness is a regional issue. It’s a housing issue. It’s a challenging issue with many dimensions. But we need seconds left, we need to treat it as an emergency. And we need to mobilize not just our government resources, but our community resources, our churches, our nonprofits, and our community.
Bert: Thanks, Rick. We’ll go on move now to John Doyle. John Doyle is a renewable energy professional parent and longtime resident of District Four, with economics and engineering degrees from Dartmouth College. He strongly supports fiscal responsibility and broadening the definition of public safety to include clean air, water, and making life easier for working families, as well as increased access to better jobs, education, and more affordable housing. So John Doyle, please tell us why you are running and any other qualifications you have other than those that I just read. You have 90 seconds.
Doyle: I guess one of the main reasons I’m running is because I have three kids in that that live in Pasadena and I want them to be safe. I want them to grow up here. And I want them to be able to afford a house here. And I think that Pasadena is a great place. But I want to prepare a city for the next 100 years. And I think that I’m the only candidate with the experience, the professionalism of boxing, to create the public private partnerships that allow for job creation, which is what is needed to support the future of Pasadena as it relates to the homelessness. I am compassionate about the homeless, and I do feel for them, and I’ve been volunteering since I was you know, in high school. The homeless situation for me, though, a way to create more investment, more affordable housing into the city. It’s a way to make the city safer, to make the city cleaner and add less stressors to the city. I think that I have started conversations with investors and developers and bringing businesses out to my district.
Bert: Thank you, John. So we’ll move on to Jonathan Horton. Jonathan Horton is a Pasadena resident of 20 years and a proud alumnus of three PUSD schools. After college, Jonathan was determined to serve the community members he grew up alongside the early years of Jonathan’s career were spent advocating for the residents of Pasadena and the rest of California’s 28th congressional district as a federal caseworker. He assisted hundreds of families with issues ranging from housing to immigration to Veterans Affairs. Jonathan now serves as vice chair of the Pasadena Human Relations Commission and is actively working to ensure the safety and improve the quality of life of all Pasadena. Ian’s, so Jonathan Horton, please tell us why you’re running. And any other qualifications you have nothing goes I just read, and you have 90 seconds.
Horton: Thank you all for being here. Thank you all for giving me the time to speak. My name is Jonathan Horton. I live over here in East Pasadena after 20 years now. And the primary reason I’m running for office is that I love Pasadena. My biggest dream and goal in life is to get married, have children and provide an even better life for my family than I was given. But I recognize how far out of reach that is, especially for my generation right now. The cost of living as we all know, we’re all very aware has gotten out of hand in the last few decades. And it’s seemingly only accelerating, how much housing prices are costing and how our wages aren’t keeping up with those. I think it is absolutely vital and pertinent that we invest more in affordable housing. And then we look at new strategies to ensure that new and especially young families can come into that can come into Pasadena can stay in Pasadena, where they’re from where their families from and kind of build and contribute to that community. I really believe that our next generation of caretakers doesn’t have a place in Pasadena if we continue on the course that we’ve been on for the last few years. And so that’s the primary reason I’m running for office. I’m very excited to tell you a bit more about myself my campaign.
Bert: Thank you, Jonathan. All move on to Brandon Lamar. Brandon Lamar was raised in Northwest Pasadena. Growing up, however, it was clear to him that the voices in his community aren’t always heard at City Hall. This realization made Brandon a community organizer, neighborhood advocate and a dedicated coalition builder. He is now running for Pasadena City Council to build a bridge between the residents of district three and City Hall. Brandon has a long history of serving our community, including being vice chair of the Pasadena rental housing board, co chair of Pasadena is organizing for progress. And Chair of the NAACP, economic development and Housing Committee. Brandon Lamar, please tell us why you’re running. And any other qualifications you have other than those I just read. You have 90 seconds.
Brandon: Thanks, Bert. I think you said it all. I was born and raised in Pasadena, went to PUSD schools, I am so happy to be endorsed by every single elected official who governs my district from school board all the way up to Congress, which I think is really the reason why I’m running. Because in order to create change in Pasadena, we’re going to be able to have to be collaboration, collaboration builders, for throughout these parties. At the end of the day, the median rent in my district is $2,400. For a one-bedroom apartment. The median house is $1.4 million. Public Safety last year, we had over 80 shootings in my district, which is a concern from a huge concern for me. And that’s more shootings than any other district all of our other districts combined. And at the end of the day, homelessness, there’s last recorded 556 homeless people, of course, that does not include people that are living in somebody’s couch. But at the end of the day, I think that with 145,000 people in our city, we can definitely house 500 people. And so those are the reasons why I’m running. I’m excited about it. I ran last year got 41% of the vote. And I don’t have to tell you guys what happened in the appointment process. You’ve seen it. So I’m glad that this time our district can choose by their votes. Appreciate you guys tonight.
Bert: Now we move on to Allen Shay. Allen Shay is a former Northwest Commissioner. He graduated from the University of Southern California, earning a bachelor Bachelors of Arts degree and later a juris doctorate degree from the law school. He has worked for his family business the little red hen, which is said to be the oldest black owned business and Altadena is perfect in his professional life. Shay has been a real estate broker and has owned a business consulting firm focused on creating sustainable business growth and jobs in Pasadena. So Allen Shay please tell us why you are running and any of the qualifications you have other than those I just read. You have 90 seconds
Shay: I want to thank you for the platform. For tonight. I’m running because I’m a product of PUSD. And I’ve certainly been very engaged with Pasadena process my entire life. And it’s been based on service. That is why I was bitten by being a political scientist since the age of five, to really get an understanding of the process of governance. And when I went to SC finished, sc, we began to work with programs from homelessness, to social services, to housing, and I actually had worked with the city with their housing programs since 1984. So I have a thorough background, with business, real estate, strategic planning, and sustainability of businesses, as you mentioned, our family businesses, 50 years, I’ve had my own business for 43 years, coming out of college, starting my own business. And I can see the deficiencies that that exists when you don’t have good leadership. And throughout my tenure as a 12, year Commissioner for Northwest, my efforts were to develop housing, eliminate homelessness in the northwest, create a better quality of life in the Northwest, and all of those things were done. And I get that as a as a study with my political science background. And with that, I took it to the city council in 2020, after the murder of Anthony McLain. And I went to every one of the council meetings time to see okay, process.
Bert: Thanks, Allen. So, okay, so now we are going to go with the questions for our candidates, and we’ll go in alphabetical order. For the first question, then we’ll reverse order for the second question. We’ll keep going back and forth on the order since the questions. So here’s the first question. And again, this is for all five candidates. The city lowered its homeless count by over 50% in a 10-year period, by instituting a point in time homeless count, a continuum of care, the housing first model, and by creating permanent supportive housing. Nonetheless, the homeless count went up 9% last year to 556. We feel the goal of our cities should be functional zero homelessness. This means that homelessness is rare, brief, non recurring and equitable. So what concrete steps would you take to end homelessness in our city, so Rick Cole your first you have 90 seconds. So
Cole: The first thing we need to do, as I said earlier, is to treat it as an emergency. Los Angeles County and the city of Los Angeles have declared emergencies. That means our outreach teams shouldn’t be operating nine to five, Monday through Friday, they should be operating around the clock when we have folks out on our streets. The second thing we need to adopt modern technology, I was mayor in 1993 and organized our homeless count, the first in the state of California. 30 years later, we still count in the middle of the night, once a year, much like we did when we started when Joe Coletti and I organized that 1993 first count, yet we have extraordinary access to resources, we could have what many cities call a By Name List, which gets the right help to the right people at the right time, and cuts through a lot of the bureaucracy, the red tape and people falling between the cracks. And the third thing we need to do, which is the most difficult, the most expensive, the only thing more expensive, is not doing it. And that’s to expand the range of housing options in our community. That means transitional housing. That means permanent supportive housing. That means congregate shelters, that means experimenting with tiny homes and other group home kind of opportunities. And that’s never easy to do. But without it. We run the risk of sliding into the situation that you see in Los Angeles with entrenched encampments and the tragedy of street homelessness. metastasizing.
Bert: Thank you, Rick. All right. So now we go to John Doyle. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Doyle How do we end homelessness. Tthe first step is stop people from becoming homeless, and that is to increase the social safety net, add jobs at affordable housing. I ubix from guard rails, um, I am the only candidate in my race that was out there supporting measure aid before it was the law. And that’s one way you know, you got to stop the leaky pipe before you fix the flood or stop the stop the bleeding. So once we stop people from becoming homeless and strengthen the social safety net, and the economy for working class, then we can focus on the 500 or 600 homeless that are out there right now. In a group, I believe I’m the only candidate in my group that was out at the homeless count as well. And my homeless plan was called brilliant by Megan at Door of Hope. And you’ll get if you don’t get through it in this 92nd. You can go to Pasadenasafe.com to see my homeless plan. And it’s it’s in three parts: one, immediate temporary housing with vouchers putting people in the hotels.
Bert. Thanks, John, Next we go to the Jonathan Horton. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Horton: thank you. I think something that’s really important to point out and you did in the question itself is that the city has already taken some measures to address homelessness, and affordable housing, which is important for two reasons. One is that he’s helping people and to, which shows that we do have the resources to make actual change. Some things that I would really love to see for the city, something they had a few years back was the tenant based rental assistance program, which the city doesn’t have applications open for currently, that I think we need to renew funding for open applications and also increase the scope of it. Basically, that program, like John Doyle said, helps people stay in their houses in the first place, we want to make sure that instead of spending a ton of money on the back end, we just help people stop them from going homeless in the first place. So if someone were to lose their job, where to get an eviction notice where to miss a couple of months of rent, having the city step in ahead of time is so much more useful for all parties involved than having them try and fix the problem afterwards. A couple of other things I would love to see shared housing proposed, that’s something I would actually love to bring to the council. A friend of mine, who’s actually here on the Zoom is the one who told me about it a couple years ago, and or a year ago. And it’s this wonderful program where homeowners can partner with the city to find and connect with people who are in need of housing, who have been vetted through the city and offer additional rooms or things like add us to people who are in need of housing. There’s a lot of other things that I think the city can do to address homelessness. I know I don’t have the time for it. But also another thing is using the city’s lobbying power to lobby the state to invest more funding into both mental health and substance abuse programs to help people that are currently on the street or at risk of being on the street or homeless get the resources that they desperately need.
Bert: Thank you, Jonathan. Now we go to Brandon Lamar, same question.
Brandon: Thank you. First off, I think it’s good to note that for the last four years, I’ve been actually taking part in the homeless count all night long and early mornings, which is I believe that you can serve the people if you’re not willing to go to where the people are, and the people that you’re serving. Our first thing is, of course, when it comes to affordable housing, as just reaffirming what Rick has already said, and I’ve been a huge advocate for making sure that our Port Hope teams operates 24 hours. One of the situations that we just had at Washington Park, even though it was not a homeless situation, it still happened overnight. And that’s an issue, right? And so we definitely need services to be happening 24 hours a day because as I used to work in homeless services, most of the issues with complex needs people happen after 10 o’clock and happens when you and I are asleep. And so that’s the first part that needs to be done. The next thing is that you know, we can’t just say you know, we got to get people house because getting people house and not helping them to stay house with the right social services, the right counseling, therapy, and so much more. You know, it’s going to create more homelessness in our streets and So I definitely believe that we need, of course, more affordable housing. But we’ll also with that transitional housing and permanent housing, we also need cell service to go with that. As you guys know, our city gives vouchers to people to be in hotels for maybe I think two days. That’s just a band aid, we have to fix this problem. I believe that we can do it. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, Brandon. All right. So And finally, we get back to Allen Shay. Same question, you have 90 seconds?
Allen: I believe that, first of all, it starts with leadership. I mean, I’ve studied homelessness since college, that was part of my program after the Reagan years, most of you know the trickle down effect and what it actually did to the social structure, my structure of Indian Housing, I mean, ending homelessness would stem from a three component structure. First of all, we would need to leverage against these vacant properties in or properties that the city is just sitting up and not using. They can be utilized for temporary housing, transitional housing, until we get a true structure in place, the second prong would be, we would have to have some kind of therapy or rehabilitation program in place, especially for those who have mental challenges that are on the street, you cannot have somebody who may have mental problems, is going to only impact their transition to a stable environment if you haven’t dealt with the mental. And lastly, but not least, we also have to structure a component to rehabilitate them into the workforce, so that they can become normal again, and functional. If you don’t have these things in play, then you’re not going to be successful. Thank you. Excellent. Thank
Bert: Thank you, Allen. Okay, next, we go to question number two, and we’re going to go in reverse alphabetical order. So starting with Allen Shay. So here’s the question. We have provided more affordable housing than other adjacent cities. But the need is huge, and estimated to be almost 6000 affordable units in the next eight years, according to our regional needs assessment. Additionally, we have seen the displacement of over half of the African American community due to gentrification since 1990, our organization played a significant role in passing the inclusionary housing ordinance that has produced well over 1000 affordable units throughout the city. What policies do you support that would create more affordable housing in our city? Allen che, you have 90 seconds? Well,
Shay. I’m sure that Anthony and Jill know that I’ve been very much advocate with affordable housing. And certainly, when it comes to people of color that’s been displaced, because the the using the word affordable housing is nice. But we need statistics to show who are the beneficiaries. And that’s very important if you’re going to advocate that term. So clarification is needed there. As a mayor, my position would be to, to create partnerships that we can foster, building affordable housing and coming up with funding sources that are out there to make them happen. And to be able to produce data that shows that we are achieving the goals that we’ve been set in motion to create for everyone. So we can have a strong response from African Americans being put back in place. And so when somebody say affordable home, it’s making sure that they have a stake in it, instead of them just using the word affordable, just to be thrown it out there. It’s not it’s not attractive at all. You got to have data. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, Allen. All right. So next, we will go to Brandon Lamar, same question.
Brandon: Thank you. First, I want to just point out because you mentioned the African American community. Currently the African American community is Pasadena is made up of 6%. Now, and with us being 6%. Now we’re only we’re actually 33% and homeless as well in Pasadena, which is definitely a shame. But some of the policies that I will look at changing is besides some of the work that planning commission is already doing, I would definitely take a deep dive into our zoning policy. As you guys know, there are a lot of zoning policies that we need to relook at. And we need to change and we have to have to have that deeper dive conversation. And the next thing that I would like to look at is, as all of you guys know, there’s a lot of empty buildings that we have in Pasadena, as COVID has showed us, you can actually work from home and get the job done. We have a lot of vacant, empty buildings that are just laying there for years on end. I don’t have to tell you guys about the Luke hospital, you see it almost every single day. And so we have to do something about that making sure that property owners are not just letting their buildings lay vacant, in our community, and in our city. And the last thing I mentioned is, once again, I’ve said that I’ve been elected by every single elected official that represents my district, from school board all the way up to Congress, Congresswoman Judy Chu, Senator Anthony Portantino and Assemblymember, Chris Holden, and I will work with those individuals to bring funding into our communities to help us provide affordable housing in our communities. And so those are just some of the things that I’m willing to work on, and be advocate for. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, Brandon. All right. So next, we go to Jonathan Horton. Same question.
Horton: Anyone who knows District Four knows that it was the one district that didn’t vote in support. measure H also recognizes that the district can tend to be a bit more conservative, particularly when talking about new developments. What I think my different approach is, being realistic with that and willing to address the community where they are, with a list of small changes to start off with to lead us into bigger changes later on. Some of those things have actually spoken with neighborhood associations and different community members that are typically against more affordable housing, more housing in general. And there were some things we could agree on. Small changes like in our inclusionary housing ordinance, with concessions that are given to developers who are utilizing density bonuses. One thing I would propose would be to include parking reductions, as part of the concession menu, or sorry, as aside from the concession menu currently are only allowed to concessions if you’re utilizing density bonuses, but I believe parking reductions is one of the things that we should really explore just being automatic, especially with so much of our district being so close to the A line, which is an incredible form of public transit, that now will get you all the way down to Long Beach in one shot. I think other things looking at increasing the floor area ratio for appropriately projects, even if just slightly would increase the amount of square footage you could use per project, also advocating for single stare apartment layouts, which gives you variety of design choices that you can make apartment complex times
Bert. Thanks, Jonathan. Thanks, Jonathan. So now we’ll move to John Doyle. Same question, you have 90 seconds.
Doyle: I think that having more affordable housing, you have to go back in history, and you have to erase the stigma of affordable housing, and people thinking that it brings in young people crime. And by changing that stigma, I mean, I’ve talked to a lot of developers about coming in here, and, you know, increasing the density and taking care of density bonuses, but one thing they said about affordable housing, is that, you know, they’re, they’re nervous about the types of tenants that they’ll have. And, you know, we have to, as a community, come together and get rid of stereotypes. That’s basically what it is. These guys are afraid of having someone that is low income for Section eight, and doesn’t have a job and with tenants that are paying full price. That’s, that’s bottom line, when the truth of the matter is, is that most senior citizens are the ones being put on the street because they have fixed incomes. So until we flip the script, so to say and tell the truth, we’re not going to make much progress. And as it relates to, yeah, okay
Bert: Thank you, John. Okay, so next, we will go back to Rick Cole, same question.
Cole: A number of good ideas have been discussed so far. Let me add to that I think are important What is the concept of social housing, the idea of permanent supportive housing, whether through community land Trust’s nonprofit 100%, affordable projects, not ones that that investors can recapture after 55 years or 30 years. But once and their examples all over the world have that kind of model. And we could learn from that and adapt that, particularly as I’ve knocked on doors and district to in some really tough and often maintained buildings and apartments, that nonprofits or community land trust could acquire, and rehabilitate, and make permanent and affordable housing. One thing, though, that doesn’t get much attention. We talked about affordable housing is is homeownership. And part of the reason the black community in Pasadena has shrunk is because they lack the housing security. Many of the families lack the housing security of home ownership. And so I think it’s really important that the city play a role in encouraging families to have housing security, again, whether it’s social housing, or homeownership, both of that gives people a sense that the roof over their head is not dependent upon the rent this month, and I think those are both critically important for putting down roots and having multi generational families, which I think is part of making Pasadena a special place.
Bert: Thank you, Rick. Alright, so now we move to the question number three, and we’ll do this one in alphabetical order. So starting with Rick Cole, here’s the question. Tenants are facing eviction, or are being pressured to leave their apartments and face daunting odds when they go to court without a lawyer, which is what happens 90% of the time, making sure that they’re treated fairly in court as a major concern. What will you do to make sure that tenants in our city are protected, protected, and treated fairly? So Rick Cole, you have 90 seconds.
Rick: Our whole legal system is based upon people being adequately represented, in fact, a whole set of Supreme Court, historic Supreme Court decisions, gave protections to people to provide that kind of level playing field, I think that we need to be having those discussions as other cities in Southern California have had, one of the challenges is that there are not enough lawyers available to fully address the glaring need. So I think we need to be practical and cost effective and look for partnerships with our local bar association and with others. I do think everyone deserves a fair shake in court.
Bert: Thank you, Rick. Next, let’s hear from John Doyle. Same question, you have 90 seconds. Okay.
Doyle: I want to commend Rick, on talking about African American home ownership. That is, that is definitely true. And I back that 100%. Keeping people in their homes is a big part of my strategy. That’s what I’m all about. Which is, you know, increasing the social safety net. There’s not much more I have to say about that. I’d like to say, you know, read Ryan, Belle’s op ed, it was amazing. If you didn’t see it from yesterday. You know, we’ve got a lot to do. As a city, there are a lot of people that I talked to, who are, you know, making calls, were being treated unfairly getting kicked out and are homeless and just not enough people to respond to these calls for help. So that’s all I’ll say on that is read Ryan’s a bit in past few now. So
Bert: Thank you, John. All right. So let’s now go to Jonathan Horton. Same question.
Horton: First thing is that I believe in every tenant of the tenant Bill of Rights, tenant of the tenant Bill of Rights, and would advocate for any policies that would ensure each one of those I mentioned this earlier, but I also think it’s important to support programs and expand programs like the tenant based rental assistance program to make sure we’re keeping people in the housing they currently have to give them just that extra layer of stability, which is so vital. And then one of the other things is that I would support the study and consideration of a local tenant opportunity to purchase program, which is basically a program in which if a landowner was going to sell, let’s say an apartment complex, for example, they would have to first here offers from the current residents of that, of that unit, or sorry, of that apartment complex, which I think is just a huge opportunity to give people the chance for even more stability and the chance for actual ownership, which is a couple of the other candidates had mentioned is the pathway for wealth in the future. And of course, I said a million times, but stability, which is so important.
Bert: thank you, Jonathan. Okay, so now we will move to Brandon Lamar. Same question, you have 90 seconds.
Brandon: One thing I would like to mention is, you know, we can’t buy housing until we actually have the ability to save money in order to buy housing. And that is a big thing for our communities. And I think, yes, I agree in buying housing, my program that I started, just last year in 2023, we help seven people, minorities actually buy housing in Pasadena. And so I believe in buying homes, I believe in that. But I believe that we have to create a system where people can actually save their money in order to buy homes. One thing I want to mention to all of you guys, if you have not been paying attention, I’m the vice chair of the rental housing board. And this is the exact thing that we have been fighting for, for our tenants to advocate for themselves. But also, we pass the no fault eviction protection regulations in our in our on our board. And so at the end of the day, we have really and we see the testimonies almost every single day, we have stopped people from being homeless in our community. And I don’t think that the rental housing board gets enough credit for that because of the hard decisions that we have to make to make sure that the majority of Pasadena, Ian’s who are renters are protected and our house. The next thing that I’ll say is we need to advocate to continue to educate our community about their rental protections and about their rights in our community. Also, the rent stabilization board had also passed relocation fees, which are is definitely making sure that tenants are staying housed as well. Yes, I agree with legal support, we definitely need legal support. But I also think that we need to make sure that our cities, community service, and our cities, nonprofits are up and sorry, if I could just say this is just two last things, make sure that our cities programs and nonprofits are aware of what we’re doing in our rent stabilization board. That’s it. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, Brandon. All right. And next we’ll hear from Allen Shay. Same question, you have 90 seconds.
Shay: First I’d like to share with with everybody tonight, the affordable housing crisis is very complex. I’m a 43 year business owner and real estate, through my family, I’m a real estate broker, I have a law degree in which I’ve been applying it to the structures. And all of these dynamics will have to find someone with a sense of leadership. And who can bring together a bAllenced approach. It’s not going to be a win situation, one way or another, the tenants are going to need good representation, or they will see the impact. Putting pressure on the objective, okay. And on the flip side, you’re going to want to see owners being pleased with the way things are working so that they can maintain their properties and feel that they are comfortable and being business owners and real estate otherwise it’s going to have an adverse effect. These things are critical to understand it’s not one, one fit all, it doesn’t work that way in real estate. It’s a bAllence. And I can tell you that through the three recessions I’ve been through and trying to make sure people are educated and stay in their homes, especially rental people, I mean, the tenants, and I think we can find that with the right leadership. I applaud the rent board and what they’ve done. But it’s going to have to come from internally, working together with leadership. And that’s why I’m running for mayor so I can provide that to the residents.
Bert: Thank you, Allen. All right. So we’ll now move to the fourth question. And we’ll go in reverse alphabetical order. So starting with Allen Shay again. Here’s the question. The state of California mandates that affordable housing should be spread throughout the city, including higher income areas where people have access to good jobs and schools. This is called affirmative Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing. And it is aimed at historic and current racial injustice and economic inequality. What would you do to ensure that there is affordable housing in all parts of ours? City. Okay, Allen Shay, you have 90 seconds,
Shay: I would do once again is to develop a funding source. This is what I’ve seen in the many years I’ve been in business, wherever there’s some deficiencies, you find partners to make it work, that’s what’s going to happen. Otherwise, people are not going to be able to just come in certain territories that you have a higher value market value in one neighborhood than the other and you think you’re going to get the same results. That’s not going to happen. You got to find some partners to make it work. Either you do. You find somebody who looking for tax credits, and you can make it work there, you find somebody who’s looking for some type of business structure, when you get multi use of business and commercial. You’ve got to you’ve got to find partnerships and make this transition with what’s happening in our society work that come from leadership, and someone who’s actually out here doing the job is just not going to happen. With a one one size fit all, I can assure you that.
Bert: Thank you, Allen. Okay, so now we will go to Brandon Lamar, same question, you have 90 seconds.
Brandon: I just want to reiterate that, in order to make sure that affordable housing is in all five of our cities, all of our city, we once again, we have to relook at our zoning policy in our city is that’s that’s number one conversation that we definitely have to look at number two, we have to have people that are on our city council in all of our districts that are not afraid to have affordable housing in their in their districts. District Three has the most affordable housing units that has been built in our entire city because former giant former city council member John Kennedy was not afraid to build affordable housing in our district. And so that should be a thing in all of our communities. At the end of the day, if we’re going to make sure that people are housed, and we’re going to make sure that we have enough housing, then we have to make sure that this is happening across all seven districts of our city. And if if our city leadership does not understand that, then you know what you have to do. So I think those are hard conversations that we have to have there are affordable housing units being built in certain districts, but not at all. So yeah.
Bert: Thank you. Thank you, Brandon. Okay, next, we’ll move to Jonathan Horton. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Horton:. And I think this is the first question that I’ll be able to answer in under 90 seconds. With anything the burden of change, it’s always on the shoulders of the poor. It’s the same thing for housing, it’s the same thing for resources. Same thing for transportation. When cities, when counties need more resources, they put it in the poor neighborhoods. And that is just unacceptable. Like Brandon said, The most important thing to have affordable housing across the city is to have council members willing to provide these resources in their own district, where it’s necessary. It’s not just necessary in certain places throughout, it’s necessary everywhere. And so electing pro housing candidates, just across the board is the number one thing that we can do. And the number two thing we can do was hold those candidates and those eventual elected officials accountable for the claims and the promises that they made during the campaign. Thank you.
Horton: Thank you, Jonathan. Okay, so now we move to John Doyle. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Doyle, I support creative ideas to add, stave affordable housing that needs the building codes. And I don’t think I can say it better than Allen Shay said it, so I won’t try.
Bert: Thank you, John. Okay, so finally, we come back to Rick Cole, same question, you have 90 seconds
Cole: when I served on the city council before and then three years after as a commissioner on the Community Development Commission, which oversaw redevelopment. I championed high quality, affordable housing, and oftentimes to the stereotypes that that John Doe was talking about earlier. Because of the high quality of design and sensitivity to the context. We could take people who were unhappy with the idea of affordable housing in their neighborhood and show them where we built it before. And invariably, when we go to the block where where new housing was built by neighborhood housing service or other nonprofits, we’d ask People will say which one is the affordable housing project here. And, and people will almost always point to the one owned by an absentee landlord, which was rundown and not well maintained. And when we pointed out that the the well maintained and and quality design project, there was the affordable one, they say, Oh, well, that’s I, I can do live with that. So I think it’s really important that we be concerned about the design and compatibility and the quality not just to make it more palatable to, to neighbors, but also because people are going to live there live there for generations, and it should be livable, and high quality. And the last thing is there’s a lot of naturally occurring affordable housing. We don’t just need to build affordable housing, we need to make sure that it stays affordable. Throughout District Two, there are Mac houses, bungalow courts, duplexes, garden apartments, rear units, and many of them are affordable at this point. And we need to make sure they stay affordable, whether we acquire them as I mentioned earlier and rehabilitate them, or whether we find other ways of ensuring that the naturally affordable housing is not lost.
Bert:Thank you, Rick. The last few questions will be asked by Dr. Jill shook and Dr. Anthony Manousos, the co founders of our nonprofit. So Dr. Jill shook is the founding director of Mesa making housing and community happen, and is the foremost visionary of our group. She is also the author slash editor of making housing happen faith based affordable housing models, she will ask question number five. So Jill,
Jill: our organization has been supporting the national chorus project down by the City Hall on Ramona street. But that’s been delayed for over two years, costing the developer over 10 million additional dollars, because the slow approval of the design commission. On the other hand, the Salvation Army prep project, which is 65 units of supportive housing was fast tracked, and given funding by the city. So now enters SB four, which rezones religious and college land for affordable housing statewide. And we want to make sure that this will apply and there won’t be delays and opportunities around this. And so we want to ask you what you would do to make sure that this bill is implemented in our city, and how would you support religious institutions and colleges interested in having affordable housing built on their underutilized land? So
we’ll start in alphabetical order, starting with Rick Cole, Rick Cole, you have 90 seconds?
Cole: I’m anticipating the question on a local source for affordable housing funding, which I think is is key that we actually be able to be a partner with many institutions and nonprofits, to encourage them to utilize, they’re under utilized land and facilities for a whole range of housing types, senior housing, permanent supportive housing, various forms of workforce, and affordable housing, etc. And so, the city needs to become more proactive. It was proactive until 2011, when redevelopment funding went away. When I was on the city council, I actually negotiated the state’s first affordable housing set aside, we agreed in SB 481, Senate Bill 41, to dedicate 20% of redevelopment funding permanently to affordable housing. And that created that first record recurring source of funding that gave us not the ability to to subsidize an entire cost of the unit, but simply to be part of the filling that gap. Right, well, that’s left by other federal and state and county and regional sources. So it’s really critical that we recapture the opportunity to be active supporting partners in getting housing built in our city.
Bert: Thank you, Rick. So next we’ll go to John Doyle. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Doyle: I would just say that I support affordable housing. I support creativity, and I support all hands on deck ACC trying to get this done. And you know, it’s not going to come from one, one place. And as long as, again, the buildings are safe, they meet building codes. They’re not eyesores. I think that I would be supportive and fine. I prefer apartments that are, you know, have a little more density. But like it, there’s not going to be one solution. And I’m supportive. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, John. Okay, next, we’ll go to Jonathan Horton. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Horton: thank you, as we know, as before, prohibits local governments from using the design process to kind of limit or slow down streamlined approval for projects like these. I think one of the biggest things the City Council can do is direct both the city manager and city attorney to make certain that the city is in compliance with any state laws, including SB four. That would be one of my main priorities. Another follow up to that would be there’s currently I believe, a vacancy, at least on the city website for design commission. Those vacancies are filled after recommendations from the council members, followed by nominations from the Mayor’s Office for the at large seats. And I think it’s really important that on all of our major commissions, we’re ensuring that we as city council members are recommending pro housing commissioners qualify pro housing commissioners that understand the city and the region is in a housing crisis. And that in their work, they need to, they need to focus on that. And they need to prioritize, not only making things look pretty, but making things work for the residents of the city. Lastly, I will try and seek additional funding. And try and authorize an expedite any future contracts, for housing on religious or higher education.
Bert: Thank you, Jonathan. Okay, so next, we will go to Brandon Lamar, same question. Do you have 90 seconds?
Brandon: Thank you. I think, you know, not to reiterate what everybody just said. So I won’t do that. Number one, when you look at Salvation Army project, yes, the city did give money to the Salvation Army project. But also, I think what is notable is Salvation Army actually raised a lot of their funds to build that unit. And so I think what we also have to do is start educating our local nonprofits and local organizations, in our churches and our colleges on how that they can raise this money themselves to build affordable housing on there lots. This group was one of the biggest proponents to advocating to be able to build affordable housing on church lands. And so I think the first thing is educating our community on that. And so I’m a big proponent for it. I think it’s at the end of the day, we’re not going to get more land, that that oh, that’s day is over. So we really have to look at how we build affordable housing, where we build affordable housing and making sure that it works for everybody in our community. So yes, long story short, I am an agreement with this. Bill, I do believe that we have to educate our community on how to go after funding and pursue funding and also how to raise money, just like the Salvation Army did for for their project.
Bert: Thank you, Brandon. All right. Finally, we come back to Allen Shay. Same question. You have 90 seconds.
Shay: Thank you. This is in my wheelhouse, demonstrating the complexity of real estate and real estate projects. And certainly for those of you who don’t know, SB four was just approved as of September of last year. So they are still kind of trying to apply it to all of the issues that are forced under SB four, considering the restrictions, the number of years that will go into the development, use. There’s a lot of lot of complexity behind all of this. That’s going to make it successful. For me, I believe that you have to create, again, partnerships to try and avoid the bureaucratic approaches. to development, and if you don’t, these, these projects are gonna take longer and add another chapter to affordable housing and everything else. Again, these things come from leadership and people who are really in tune with the things that are out here today that’s working for people who are building and creating affordable houses in other areas outside of Pasadena. So you have to pay attention to that. The leadership will do that for Pasadena. Thank you.
Bert: Thank you, Allen. All right. And so so for the next question, Dr. Anthony Manousos will ask the question, Dr. Anthony Manousos is co founder of MH CH, and chair of the affordable supportive housing advocates team of MH CH, a Quaker peace activist and retired college professor. He has edited or written seven books. Anthony also serves on the board of directors for several organizations, including the Friends Committee on national legislation, and integrated communities united for justice and peace. So he will ask question six..
Anthony: We have a wonderful housing department in our city. And it typically needs to supply the first million or two for an affordable housing developer, so they can leverage these funds to pay for the project. However, our housing department is running out of funds, and therefore will not be able to have more affordable housing built in our city unless there is a local funding source. Are you in favor of a local dedicated fund for affordable housing either through, say, a transfer fee as Culver City and LA have done or some other means, such as the vacancy tax. And if you have some other creative solution, we’d love to hear that. WE will again, go in reverse alphabetical order, starting with Allen Shay.
Shay: Thank you, Anthony, I think that question is so appropriate in today’s climate, again, leadership, people who are out here, on the ground, looking every day on how to make deals work, the city has to take that same approach, they’re gonna have to be more be proactive in this area, if they’re not really concrete. Otherwise, you’re gonna see the same thing that we’ve seen in the last 10 years, I’ve been a commissioner for 12 years in Northwest. And in that 12 years, we’ve revamped that area, with affordable housing, new projects, all these things were done, because we kept our pressure on the city to make things happen. That’s what’s going to happen. That’s what’s needed to really bring our leadership up to today’s standard. Otherwise, you’re going to be back here 10 years from now. So it has to come from internal. It has to the leadership has to bring some new funding some new creative way to say we’re going to be able to capitalize on this to build capacity and to create affordable housing, and find a way to fill the gaps of funding. That’s what we need.
Anthony:Thank you, Allen. All right. Next, we’ll move to Brandon Lamar, same question, you have 90 seconds.
Brandon: So yes, I do agree, we need a fund for affordable housing. I’m definitely happy to be endorsed by one of my friends who was the mayor of Culver City, Yasmine. And she was definitely a voice for these funds as well, or this transfer funds. And they’re doing a great job. And so I’m for it. I’m also for vacancy tax, once again, it goes back to what I was saying before, there are a lot of buildings in our city that are laying dormant, and land vacant in once again, we’re not getting any more land. And so we have to do creative ways to use these properties and use these lands or force the owners of these properties to use it in a justifiable way. Once again, I mentioned St. Luke’s Hospital that has just been sitting there for for a very long time. And, you know, graffiti was going on there and so much more until the city put their foot down. So this will definitely help us make funds for affordable housing. So I won’t belabor the point. Yes, I agree with both. I definitely think we did need to do a deeper dive and how that will look across our city. I definitely don’t think we should do a transfer tax or a vacancy tax for one part of our city. But if this is the part of all seven districts that I am definitely for. Thank you.
Anthony: Thank you, Brandon. All right. So next we’ll move to Jonathan Horton.
Horton: I am in favor of a dedicated fund for affordable housing funded by the methods that were listed. For the vacancy tax, I would want to initially limit it to larger landlords to make sure that it’s not affecting people that might have might own one rental property, and are doing things like either renovations or waiting for a little bit. Smaller landlords typically aren’t the ones that are speculating on rental prices. I think it is also important to recognize that through a vacancy tax, there were transferred tax, it likely wouldn’t be enough funding to completely build all the affordable housing our city needs currently. And for the foreseeable future. There are people with PhDs in economics and how to find more funding for cities. I’m not one of those people, unfortunately, this is one of the things that I do not have the answer to yet. But something that I pride myself in is always seeking out experts on subjects and trying to find where the answer is. And then once I have that answer, it’s simplifying it and presenting it and proposing it to my neighbors to constituents to residents. And so I don’t know how we’re going to find all the funding for all the affordable housing we need for all the homelessness services that we need. But it is going to be at the very top of my list as for things to figure out at once in office. Thank you.
Anthony: Thank you, Jonathan. Okay, so then that takes us to John Doyle. Same question, you have 90 seconds.
Doyle: I support all means of affordable housing in Pasadena creative ways. I would support a tax or reallocating funds from other departments within the city. I want to explore federal and state incentives. Look at what’s out there and talk to other other people. There, there was also, I believe, $170 million that was used to retrofit the library. I think that, you know, while the library is beautiful, that’s a lot of money for the library, when there are people who are living on the streets and cannot afford housing. And technically, the library, a lot of times I’ve gone in there, the libraries are really just shelters for the unhoused during the day. So there needs to be, there could be a reallocation of priorities, of how money is spent, and where it’s spent. And I think, you know, supporting housing is one way to do it. And and regardless of the solution, I hate to say this, but it’s not going to happen without rich people going into their pockets and helping out other people. So you know, we’re gonna enough to go talk to wealthy people, as well. I’m just saying.
Anthony: Thank you, John. So And finally, we come back to Rick Cole, same question, you have 90 seconds.
Cole: I have long publicly advocated for just this locally, resilient source of funding, I think it’s absolutely critical. Here’s the challenge. In California, no taxes are passed without majority support. And if they’re earmarked, it takes a two thirds vote. Ultimately, budgets are a statement of values. And I think it’s critically important that, as John just mentioned, we have competing priorities in the city. priorities of people who want to see the library reopened $200 million price tag that will be on the ballot in November, with $600 million worth of other unfunded capital needs. So I think it’s important that we have a deep and thorough conversation in our community. Because I think that people have goodwill, and they’re concerned about young families that can’t afford to, to stay here or buy here. They’re concerned about senior citizens who’ve given their whole life to to work in our community, who can no longer afford to live here, that they’re concerned about. The need to have a diverse community so that teachers and firefighters don’t have to commute from 60 miles away, and nurses etc. So I think there’s there needs to be a thorough conversation question about what our priorities are in this community. And I’m confident if we have that kind of thorough conversation, that, that housing will be a key value of this community.
Bert: Thank you, Rick. All right, so. So now, finally, we will give each candidate an opportunity to make a closing statement to say anything they didn’t get to say, you will each get 90 seconds. And since we did the opening statements in alphabetical order, we’ll do the closing statements in reverse alphabetical order, starting with Allen Shay. So Allen Shay, your closing statement, you have 90 seconds.
Shay: Well, first of all, I like to thank you for, again, creating a platform. My passion and commitment to Pasadena is is unwavering. I grew up serving the city, my entire life. I’ve gone to school to make sure I can perfect the needs of the city. And we have seen that the current mayor’s that have come through are all from the rotational process from the pass, we need to bring in real effective governance in the city to bring changes, otherwise, we’re going to keep repeating what we have seen. That is why I’m asking for your vote on March 5. I’ve proven myself that I’m here to stand up for you. And I have been consistent. There is no one in Pasadena that cannot say I have not been consistent for the love of Pasadena and the governance. So I just want to thank you for giving us this platform tonight. And you will see the results of my administration. Vote me in on March 5. Thank you.
Bet:Thank you, Allen. So next we move to Brandon Lamar. final statement. 90 seconds. Thank
Brandon:. Thank you, It has been said that those who are the closest to the pain need to have a seat at the table. I’ve seen this at every single level of our community, from affordable housing, to public safety to homelessness. If you want the status quo, then we have to continue to put the same people around our city, I’m asking you to help me get elected to be the the only actually renter that will be on our city council right now we have not one of them. And our city is made up of over 60% renters. And so let’s change that I need your help. I need your help to knock on doors, I need your help to make phone calls. I need your help to to get before the voters. And so if you can do that, that’d be great. Even if you don’t live in my district, I need your help. Like I said, I’ve been endorsed by every single elected official that governs district three, all the way from school board all the way up to the Congress. I have six other seven school board members endorsements, five of the seven p passing and City College endorsements. I have eight union endorsements and more organization endorsements. And at the end of the day, you know, we’re just running a grassroots campaign to make sure that the voices of our community are actually heard. And we’re not saying one thing and doing the other. So I asked for your help. I appreciate your time. And thank you for this invitation.
Bert: Thank you, Brandon. Next, we’ll move to Jonathan Horton. final statement, you have 90 seconds.
Horton: Thank you all so much, again for having me letting me speak today. Affordable housing and homelessness. Those are the primary two issues that are running on those the main concerns of mine. And I really believe that we need a more active Council when it comes to addressing these issues. These issues like the environment, like transportation, like education, are issues that are going to affect me for the next 6070 years. If I start working out again, these are issues that you know, we’re already facing, especially with affordability that not only my children are going to face but like I said that I’m facing right now. It is so important that the city I live in the city I love the city that years ago I refused I would ever leave is doing its absolute best to not only be the incredible city that it has been in the past, but improve and continue making steps towards progress. And so I want to thank you again so much for your time. I am going to leave my contact information in the chat. It’s got my cell phone number and my email on there. Please feel free to reach out to me at any point. I probably won’t answer after 2am but following that I’d be happy to chat with anyone here. Learn more. Just talk more. And thank you all again so much.
Bert: Thank you, Jonathan. So then that brings us to John Doyle, John Doyle, your final statement, you have 90 seconds.
Doyle. Thank you, everyone. It was a pleasure. And seeing all of the candidates and all of the endorsements that Brandon Lamar has you are doing so well, I’m very proud of you. And I hope hope that you went I really think that the solution is jobs, and I’m strongly for creating public private partnerships to to bring jobs to Pasadena and my district and ending homelessness, while I am I am compassionate for the homeless. I feel that that is a key factor in making the city more livable, more attractive to young people, more attracted to job creators, more attractive to developers to give our city the the strength investment infrastructure for the next 100 years. Pasadena is an aging city. A lot of my constituents have their kids living in their houses. And they are they want affordable housing. So you know, I’m running because the incumbent in my district has been here a long time has not been addressing these issues. And here I am to do it, because I have three kids in this district. And I want there to be a Pasadena here for them when they graduate from college, because I’m not going to have any money.
Bert: Thank you. Okay, and finally, we come back to Rick Cole every now and again. Okay. Rick, you have 90 seconds.
Cole: I want to thank all the participants, both the candidates and folks who’ve tuned in for a serious discussion about the Housing and Homeless challenges in our city. One extraordinary opportunity has gone unaddressed. And that is the opportunity to recapture the 65 acres that were dug out and cemented over to make room for the 710 extension that that never happened. Destroying the homes of some of our long time. families of color and leaving them out in the cold decades ago. This is an extraordinary once in a generation opportunity to reknit together the fabric of our community, some of our wealthiest neighborhoods along with old Pasadena to provide a tremendous amenities, parks, and potentially cultural amenities. And most of all, a range of housing including substantial affordable housing, and an opportunity to welcome back some of those families that were displaced decades ago. That is something that will require leadership and vision. The city has been slow off the mark, to capture that opportunity. But my background and experience I think I can bring to that challenge, getting the most significant addition to our city that we’ve had in a generation.
Bert:: thank you, Rick. Okay, and a big thank you to all the candidates for coming this evening. Also to those of you in the audience for coming out to hear them. It’s in forums like these that we find out what candidates have to offer. That’s not in slick mailers or yard signs as important as those are to the campaigns. But it’s in these forums that we get to hear the substance of what candidates are thinking and what they have to offer. So thank you all for coming. This forum will be posted on YouTube, so you can share it with others who didn’t get a chance to attend this evening. And before you go, I want to announce our next housing justice forum. And for that, I’m going to share my screen here. seconds always takes a second to share the screen. So please join us on Sunday, February 25. For our next housing Justice forum is going to be on this about this book gone for good negotiating the coming wave of church property transitions. There’s a chapter in that book by Jill shook, Phil burns and Andre white members of our congregational land committee. Learn what congregations are doing to use their underutilized land to benefit the community. This will be a hybrid event to register, go to making housing happen.org/events making housing happen.org/events And then also we are making housing and community happen. Please consider supporting us financially so that we can continue the crucial work of transforming our community into one where everyone has a home to live in, in peace and without fear. Thank you all for coming. Have a good evening. spread the Good News and housing justice to all your friends and neighbors. Peace be with you and good night.
Register today for this two-part event: a community visioning event from 2:30-3:30 pm and our annual MHCH celebration from 3:30-5:00 pm. To register 
Making Housing and Community Happen 