Union Station Homeless Services in Running for City Contract Tonight

The City Council is scheduled to deliberate on the proposal on Monday that would allow the Pasadena Department of Housing to enter into a contract with Union Station Homeless Services to provide street outreach services with the Pasadena Police Department’s HOPE (Homeless Psychiatric Evaluation) Team to people experiencing homelessness in the City.

Under the three year contract that would total $240,000, a full-time Union Station Homeless Services staff person will serve as liaison and provide street outreach and service linkages to the people the HOPE team regularly engages.

The Housing Dept. is recommending a three-year contract totaling $240,000.

While preparing for the 2019 Homeless Count, the HOPE team saw the need for a full-time staff person from a homeless services agency to work with team members on a day-to-day basis.

Presently, HOPE team officers, given their competing responsibilities, have very limited capacity to refer clients who are in crisis to services or alternative housing opportunities as well as provide comprehensive follow-up support.

Hiring a service liaison is intended to bridge that gap. The liaison will also provide follow-up services and additional support to individuals until they are connected to housing navigation and case management.

The Department of Housing said Union Station Homeless Services was the only entity that submitted a quote in response to a Request for Proposals published in December last year calling for a one-year funding request, with the option to extend for two additional one-year periods.

On February 4, an inter-departmental Evaluation Panel from the Public Health Department, Police Department, and Department of Housing met to evaluate Union Station’s submission, and recommended the uncontested proposal for a three-year term, given the agency’s prior experience with law enforcement and long-standing history of providing street outreach and homeless services in Pasadena.

Union Station Homeless Services currently has 10 contracts totaling $2.6 million with the City, the Housing Department said.

Union Station Homeless Services is part of a premier group of human services agencies in Los Angeles County that are leading the way to ending homelessness in our community. It is the San Gabriel Valley’s largest social service agency assisting homeless and very low-income adults and families.

Since 1973, Union Station has helped rebuild the lives of thousands of people who were once homeless and without hope.