Housing Department to Present $58 Million Budget Driven by Affordable Housing Surge

The Pasadena Housing Department is scheduled to present a $58.02 million recommended Fiscal Year 2027 operating budget to the Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee on Thursday, an 18.1% increase over the current year that the department attributes primarily to an $8.1 million boost in affordable housing project funding.

The recommended budget would represent an $8.9 million spending increase over the Fiscal Year 2026 adopted total of $49.1 million. The department’s full-time-equivalent headcount would remain steady at 105.7 positions, and as an advisory body, the Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee will not approve the budget; the panel reviews department requests and forwards recommendations to the Pasadena City Council, which holds final authority over the adopted budget.

According to the staff presentation, the bulk of the increase would land in services and supplies, which would rise 20.6%, or $8.9 million, to $51.98 million. The presentation breaks the increase into $8.1 million in additional affordable housing project funding for the Ramona Street, Centennial Place, Caltrans and CalHome efforts (drawn from Fund 221, the HOME Investment Partnership Fund, and Fund 238, the Other Housing Fund), plus a $700,000 increase in homeless services funding within Fund 238 and a $956,000 increase in HOME projects within Fund 221. Rental Assistance subsidy costs in Fund 220 would decrease by $900,000.

Personnel costs would rise just $42,000, or 0.9%, to $4.88 million. According to the presentation, the modest net increase reflects a $48,000 rise in general liability insurance, a $12,000 rise in workers’ compensation and a $26,000 rise in parking permits, partially offset by newer employees being onboarded at lower compensation rates than their predecessors and an increase in vacancies from three positions in Fiscal Year 2026 to four in Fiscal Year 2027. Internal service charges would decrease 2.7%, or roughly $19,800, including a $42,000 reduction tied to the loss of the MASH facility in the Eaton fire, partially offset by a $21,000 increase in Department of Information Technology charges from a OneDrive initiative.

Several federal entitlement grant programs would see significant changes. HOME funding would rise 27.7% on anticipated expenditures for Ramona Senior and HOPE Summit/Grove projects, while HOPWA — the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program — would rise 36.4% under a renewed program supporting approximately 16 new and ongoing very low-income households living with HIV/AIDS. Rental assistance funding would decline as Emergency Housing Voucher households sunset out of the program. County funding from Measure A would rise from $2.19 million in Fiscal Year 2026 to $2.79 million in Fiscal Year 2027.

The presentation reports major Fiscal Year 2026 accomplishments across the department’s divisions. In housing production, three homeownership units at 150 S. Oak Knoll have entered the marketing phase, the 47-unit Rose Town Apartments rental project was completed, and the 20-unit Door of Hope transitional housing project is under construction with completion expected in January 2027. The department provided $6.75 million in funding assistance to the 100-unit Ramona Senior Housing project and the 57-unit Starr permanent supportive housing project for transition-age youth, sold 13 former Caltrans-owned homes for net proceeds of more than $18 million, and contributed $75,000 to the City General Fund through Basic Services Offset Payments.

In community development, the department awarded $273,000 to four nonprofit organizations providing public services to more than 1,600 people, funded over $1.1 million in Community Development Block Grant funding for economic development, infrastructure and public facility improvements, including northwest Pasadena ADA sidewalk improvements and commercial façade improvements, and received a $1 million CalHome award for accessory dwelling unit construction. The Rental Assistance division provided 1,350 households with monthly rental assistance, and implemented new subsidy funding through HOME TBRA and the Local Solutions Fund and transferred 42 Emergency Housing Voucher households before that program sunsets. The MASH program reported that 30 trainees secured full time permanent employment, secured a $432,959 Caltrans Community Cleanup and Employment Pathways grant, completed 520 City Service Center abandoned-item requests, supported departments in completing 464 work orders, and expanded cross-training opportunities from 42 positions to 60. In supportive housing, 489 formerly homeless individuals received ongoing permanent supportive housing, 65 households experiencing homelessness were placed in permanent housing through Dec. 31, the department was awarded a $677,000 round 6 state Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant and $2.19 million in Measure A funding for homeless services.

For Fiscal Year 2027, the department’s work plan would include completing the Centennial Place renovation, deploying State Route 710 sale proceeds for affordable housing projects, acquiring and disposing of additional vacant State Route 710 properties, applying for additional housing vouchers as available, completing the re-lease-up of Centennial Place, protecting existing project-based and tenant-based voucher allocations, beginning construction on seven projects in the Accessory Dwelling Unit Loan Program, implementing measures to reduce the use of Community Development Block Grant funds for supplanting existing city-funded activities, sustaining existing programming created by county Measure H and prior rounds of one-time state funding, administering Measure A funding, establishing a MASH green infrastructure maintenance team to assist with cleaning storm water projects throughout Pasadena funded by Los Angeles County, and increasing abatement of litter, debris and graffiti using Caltrans Community Cleanup and Employment Pathways funds.

The department has set a single Fiscal Year 2027 key performance indicator: 50% of Community Development Block Grant set-aside-funded public facility or infrastructure projects located in low- and moderate-income areas should result in measurable improvements in accessibility, safety or usage.

The Housing, Homelessness and Planning Committee is scheduled to meet at 5 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, in the Council Chamber, Room S249, at Pasadena City Hall, 100 North Garfield Avenue, in Pasadena. For more information call (626) 744-7311 or visit https://www.cityofpasadena.net/commissions/agendas/.