MHCH Subcommittee Update 5/26/2020

ADU Subcommittee

Subcommittee Leader:  Anne Marie Molina

Email: annemarie@makinghousinghappen.com

• On May 21^st the ADU subcommittee met with its new members to review goals and to check the status of current research reports
• We have tentatively scheduled the next meeting for June the 11^th, 2020 at 3:30 with a possible guest speaker. Isaac is a young developer who works for Homestead and is interested in ADU construction. He and his brother were influenced by their father, a gerontologist, and the idea of aging in place molded their company. 

See here for more information: https://www.homestead.is/?utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=60655486  

• On Wednesday, May 27^th the Planning Commission will provide an update on ADU Regulations and a recap of the actions completed by the Planning Commission and City Council related to ADU’s.

 Case Manager: Arlene Granadosin-Jones 

Agenda Link:

https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2020-05-27-Planning-Commission-Agenda-.pdf?v=1590454739142

Anne Marie will request the planning commission consider community meetings with an educational component where homeowners can speak to representatives regarding unpermitted ADUs and concerns regarding the process.

Safe Parking Subcommittee

Subcommittee Leader: Tom Petersmeyer

Email: newtqp000@gmail.com

• The Safe Parking committee meets every other week – our last meeting was on May 25^th. Safe Parking is a night-time program for people experiencing homelessness and sleeping in their vehicles. The program provides a safe place to park vehicles, and participants are given support as they work towards being rehoused, and reemployed.
• Our committee has two churches interested in the safe parking program, and we’re hoping to spread throughout the San Gabriel Valley. We also have one person interested in providing $5,000 towards the program.
• Our committee is developing a presentation we can use to introduce safe parking to churches. We are currently researching the best way to provide security, funding, and grants.
• The Pasadena Planning Commission (PPC) will meet this Wednesday, which is our opportunity to request a change to the ordinance prohibiting people from sleeping overnight in their vehicles. We will email letters to the PPC.

Congregational Land Subcommittee

Subcommittee Leader: Phil Burns

Email: phil@arroyogroup.com

• The Congregational Land Committee has been extremely busy. We meet every other Friday and have done a number of presentations with local pastors to educate them about our overlay zone proposal, which would enable churches to have affordable housing on their property. Phil Burns our chair, done excellent research on this.
• We now have one church ready with 48 units and an RFP to be broadcast to potential affordable housing development partners. We have a second church close with a potential of up to 100 units. Thanks to our partnership with LA Voice we now have 26 churches throughout LA county interested and seven in Pasadena. We are hopeful that a zone change happens soon to allow these churches to accomplish their mission.
• We have received a $20,000 grant and are researching how to put that into a revolving loan fund so that we can continue to serve churches.

Homeless Housing Subcommittee

Subcommittee Leader: Anthony Manousos

Email: interfaithquaker@aol.com

• The Homeless Housing committees’ most exciting news this month came when the City Council finally approved Heritage Square South for 69 units permanent supportive housing–a campaign that began two and a half years ago and was the origin of our committee.
• We continue to partner with Everyone In to promote Project Roomkey in other cities in the San Gabriel Valley, including Rosemead. This was another win since after considerable public pressure, the Rosemead City Council decided not to oppose Project Roomkey.
• Thanks to Sonja Berndt, a retired attorney, we have also begun focusing on state affordable and homeless housing policy. The Homeless Housing Committee wrote letters of support to a batch of new bills coming down in Sacramento.
• Our committee also made a decision to rally support for the church overlay policy of the Congregational Land Committee:

See here for more information on the overlay zone in Pasadena:

https://www.makinghousinghappen.org/congregational-land

Church Liaison Network

Church Liaison Coordinator: Bert Newton

Email: bert@makinghousinghappen.com

• The Church Liaison Network’s goal is to have 20 liaisons in 20 faith congregations in Pasadena by mid-August. A liaison represents their congregation at monthly meetings and organizes their congregation to advocate for affordable housing.
• This past month, we added two liaisons and one church to the program and lost one liaison.
• We currently have 20 people who have identified themselves as liaisons or assistant liaisons, representing 17 specific churches, and one group of churches. Not all the liaisons have been recognized yet by their congregations.
• Our network has a couple of people who don’t identify as liaisons but are helping us reach out to another group of churches.
• We are now running monthly trainings for liaisons. Our past topics included the housing element, overlay zone, how to do one on ones, and how to tell your story. To become a liaison for your faith community, contact Bert Newton.

North Fair Oaks Empowerment Initiative

• The N Fair Oaks Empowerment initiative, started 10 years ago by asking businesses north of Washington and below Woodbury what they liked about their community and what they want to see changed. That lead to 150 surveys, an employment street fair and many changes–including the installation of a $286,000 traffic signal to help slow traffic.
• Our team includes: pastors and members from Bethel, New Life Holiness, New Life, New Guiding Light Missionary Baptist churches and Integrated Community Options.
• We are committed to “Beautify and Not Gentrify” by providing affordable housing, slowing traffic and an employment center. Over 90% of the 82 COVID deaths in Pasadena have been in our neighborhood.  To express our love and grief we have donated 366 fabric masks to residential care facilities.  These were provided by Patricia Switzer of Poway, Rose City Church, Lincoln Avenue Community Church, Connie Milsap and others. We thank you for caring about our community!