Pasadena’s New Homelessness Committee Meets Friday With Safe Parking Planning on Agenda

A new City Council committee focused exclusively on housing and homelessness holds its first meeting Friday, with the divisive question of where people living in vehicles may park overnight safely on its agenda.

The Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee — created in December after a six-month evaluation process — convenes at 1:30 p.m. in the Council Chamber at City Hall. Mayor Victor Gordo chairs the four-member body, which includes Councilmembers Jason Lyon, Rick Cole and Justin Jones.

The committee inherits an unresolved policy dispute. In November, a safe parking proposal for All Saints Church failed when a 4-3 Council vote fell one short of the five needed to approve environmental findings. Gordo, Hampton and Jones opposed approva while Lyon supported it.

Friday’s agenda includes a review of locations where safe parking is currently allowed and discussion of potential future sites — the first substantive policy work for a body created to provide dedicated oversight of housing and homelessness issues.

“Putting people in a parking lot is not getting them off the street,” Gordo said at the November hearing. “Putting them in a hotel or in a place with four walls and a roof and hopefully a restroom and a refrigerator and a kitchen is getting them off the street.”

Supporters counter that structured parking programs offer stability to a vulnerable population.

“Our homeless count two years ago was 34 folks out on the street parked in cars that we counted, and this last year it was 37,” Councilmember Rick Cole said at the same hearing. “They’re out there and they do tend to be the kind of people who clinging by their fingernails to some kind of stability.”

The committee’s creation followed Pasadena’s 2025 Point-in-Time Count, which found 581 people experiencing homelessness — a 4% increase from 2024. The unsheltered population rose 7%, from 321 to 342.

The All Saints safe parking proposal, which would allow up to 25 vehicles to park overnight on church property at Walnut Street and Euclid Avenue, received a 5-0 recommendation from the Board of Zoning Appeals before stalling at the Council level. On Monday, the Council voted to revive the proposal and directed staff to explore alternative sites citywide.

Staff support for the committee comes from the Planning and Community Development Department, led by Director Jennifer Paige, and the Housing Department, led by Director Jim Wong.

Regular meetings are scheduled for the first Wednesday of each month, beginning Feb. 4.

The meeting will be broadcast on Cable Channel 3 and streamed at pasadena.granicus.com. Virtual attendees may join via Zoom at us02web.zoom.us/j/161482446 or call 1-669-900-6833 (Meeting ID: 161 482 446). Speaker cards for public comment are available at cityofpasadena.net/commissions/public-comment. Comments are limited to three minutes.