Learn more about what Pasadena is doing to combat homelessness and our investments in solutions that work.

Too often, society believes that people experiencing homelessness are responsible for their situation due to a character flaw or poor decision-making. In fact, the root causes—broken systems, institutional racism and misguided policies—play a significant role in how and why people become homeless.

What we do know is that homelessness is a temporary situation that does not define an individual. Our community’s comprehensive response to homelessness has yielded steady and encouraging progress for close to ten years. Although we continue to battle complex upstream factors that are largely outside of individual control and compounded by a long-standing history of structural inequities, an increasing number of people are successfully getting connected to the services they need and more people continue to permanently exit homelessness, retaining their permanent housing with meaningful support. As we continue to provide tangible solutions, it’s important for our entire community to gain a deeper understanding of the real issues, challenges and solutions that are leading to lasting change everyday.

What can you do?

By understanding the true causes of homelessness and the critical role supportive and affordable housing play in solving the crisis, you can be an agent of change. Your strong support for local housing initiatives is the key to bringing our temporarily homeless neighbors back home. We know that many people want real solutions to homelessness. However, there continues to be widespread misinformation about the homelessness crisis that further contributes to the stigmatization of a population that is already marginalized. Even people who have the best intentions may be misinformed.