The Pasadena Rental Housing Board was urged to hire housing counselors who will address the public’s concerns and questions about the Measure H rent control charter amendment.
Consultant BHYV made the recommendation as it provided an overview of the Rental Housing Board’s email system at the Board’s meeting on Wednesday.
The Rental Housing Board created an email account: rentalBoard@Cityofpasadena.net to receive public inquiries about the Measure H charter amendment.
During the start up phase, City staff responded to these emails. Eventually, the Board contracted with BHYV to provide 10 hours a week of limited housing counseling services to address these emails.
Agnes Cho from BHYV said Rental Housing Board receives approximately 35 – 50 emails every week and the vast majority of emails are housing counseling related.
“Increasing counselor capacity is critical as the Board prepares for additional outreach efforts.”
“It’s wonderful that the Board is prioritizing the hiring of these housing counselors so you are on track to addressing this immediate need.”
The current email system that Rental Housing Board employs does not have a way to automatically sort emails by audience or purpose. In order to identify which emails require a counselor response, BHYV reviews the Rental Board email inbox daily and manually sorts and assigns emails to the housing counselors and other relevant stakeholders.
Cometria Cooper, one of the consultants of BHYV, is among the people responding to emails of property owners and tenants.
“When people are coming to us for help, they want more than just an answer to their question,” said Cooper. “Holistic housing counseling really is an approach to address the person’s entire problem and not just simply answer the question.”
Aside from recommending the hiring of full-time counselors, BHYV is also recommending the creation of a ticketing system or a database to sort, prioritize and monitor the status of emails.
“A ticketing system with an accompanying data system can allow the Board to track trends regarding who contacts the Board and for which reasons,” said Cho.
BHYV is also recommending the creation of a resource guide for landlords and tenants.
Currently, BHYV Housing Counselors refer residents to the Pasadena Bar Association and the Pasadena Tenants Union.
BHYV said some residents may require additional support, such as rental and financial assistance or habitability concerns.
“The Rental Housing Board should consider providing additional recommendations for community resources that Housing Counselors can share with property owners and tenants.”
Chair Ryan Bell said he is looking forward to having more local housing counselors that the BHYV can train.
“We’re all very interested in making sure we meet the needs of our community both our property owners and tenants who are trying to navigate these new rules,” Bell said.
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