Pasadena Rent Counselors Brings Housing Help to the Farmers Market in District 5

The next time District 5 residents stop by the Tuesday farmers market at Villa Parke, they can pick up more than produce. A housing counselor will be waiting with answers.

The City of Pasadena’s Rent Stabilization Department will hold its third “Chats & Snacks with a Housing Counselor” event on June 30 at Villa Parke Community Center, expanding the series for the first time to include the Housing Rights Center, a nonprofit fair-housing organization that serves Los Angeles and Ventura counties. The partnership adds guidance on what the city described as critical tenant protections, including disability accommodations, source-of-income protections, and rights for immigrant tenants, according to a city press release issued Tuesday.

The drop-in format is deliberate. The department launched Chats & Snacks in February at La Pintoresca Library, then moved to the Santa Catalina Branch Library in District 2 in April, each time embedding counselors in a space residents already use. The Villa Parke event, timed to overlap with the weekly farmers market that has operated at the center since 1980, follows the same logic: bring the help to where people already gather.

“We know that getting to our office during regular business hours is not always convenient for everyone,” Helen Morales, director of the Rent Stabilization Department, said when the series launched. “Chats & Snacks is about reducing barriers and meeting residents where they are.”

Morales was appointed director in 2024 to lead the department, which the Pasadena City Council created in December 2023 to administer Measure H, the rent-stabilization charter amendment voters approved in November 2022. Nearly six in 10 Pasadena households are renters, according to city data.

At the June 30 event, Housing Counselors will be available to answer questions about rent-increase procedures, tenant and landlord rights and responsibilities, mediation services, and housing resources. The Housing Rights Center will provide information on fair-housing protections, including rights related to disability accommodations, source of income, and protections for immigrant tenants, according to the press release.

The event is free, requires no appointment, and offers bilingual support in English and Spanish. Informational materials, snacks, and light refreshments will be provided.

Chats & Snacks takes place Tuesday, June 30, from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at Villa Parke Community Center, 363 East Villa Street. For more information, contact the Rent Stabilization Department at (626) 744-7999 or RentStabilization@CityOfPasadena.net.

The series will continue rotating through Pasadena’s districts every other month. “From the very beginning, our focus has been on serving tenants and landlords with fairness and transparency,” Morales said in a separate statement on the department’s first annual report.