New Union Station CEO Confronts Transformative Moment in California’s Approach to Homelessness

Katie Hill steps into the top leadership position of Union Station Homeless Services at a transformative moment in California’s approach to homelessness.

Hill completed her first full week as the Homeless Services’ Chief Executive Officer last Friday.

Hill — a former U.S. Congresswoman — is a seasoned professional with extensive experience in homelessness services and public policy. For over 15 years, she has held leadership positions in some of Los Angeles County’s largest homeless service organizations.

Her recent dual appointments (as Union Station’s CEO and to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission by County Supervisor Hilda L. Solis) position Hill to influence homeless services policy while leading the San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency for homeless and very low-income individuals at time of change.

“Law enforcement policies are shifting, and I think that comes from a public frustration with not having rapid solutions to ending homelessness,” Hill said. “One of the big roles for Union Station and other organizations like us is to help educate people the causes of homelessness, the actual effective solutions to homelessness.”

Operating from its main facility at 825 E Orange Grove Boulevard in Pasadena, Union Station reports a 97% housing retention rate for program participants. The organization serves a significant portion of the 75,312 individuals experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County. 75% of its annual budget is reported to come from private sources.

Hill, who previously held executive roles at People Assisting the Homeless (PATH), stresses the limitations of enforcement-only approaches.

“You can move people from place to place, you can move people in and out of jail. But at the end of the day, we’re not ever going to be in a position of being able to just long-term incarcerate people if they can’t get into permanent housing,” Hill told Pasadena Now.

Hill said her strategic vision focuses on permanent housing solutions, trauma-informed care, and strengthening multidisciplinary partnerships.

“I’m a big believer in multidisciplinary teams and ensuring that we have people who can meet the various needs of both an individual and the community and the particular situation,” she explained. “We were able to have the biggest impact when we have all of those different resources available in the immediate state of a crisis.”

Hill’s approach draws from her personal experience.

“People who are living on the street have gone through more trauma than most of us can ever imagine that led them into homelessness in the first place,” she noted. “Coming from that place of compassion, understanding, and even my own personal experience… has made me more empathetic to how close any of us can be to a crisis that might end up with us becoming unhoused.”

Hill sees seasonal outreach as an opportunity for deeper community engagement.

“During the holidays, people, that spark of compassion is strong in a lot of people that may kind of phase throughout the year… At the same time, I see it as an opportunity when people, let’s say they come to drop off food or clothes or something else, we can hopefully engage them so that they can be partners in the long haul.”

Trust-building remains central to her strategy.

“Building trust between each other, between government agencies and service providers and communities, and then the people that we serve. All of that is dependent on us believing that we are all working towards the same goal and genuinely have the best interest of the entire community and of the people we serve in mind,” she said.

Union Station Homeless Services’ comprehensive approach combines outreach, interim housing, permanent supportive housing, and community-building programs. While acknowledging the importance of temporary measures like shelters, Hill emphasizes that lasting solutions require adequate affordable housing options.

“None of us can do this alone. There’s not a single agency or individual who can solve homelessness on their own, and we have to partner,” she said. “We have to recognize that the effort of an entire community is needed to be able to make a meaningful impact.”