https://www.unionstationhs.org/files/Pasadena%202009%20Homeless%20Count%20Report%20-%20Final.pdf

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report is the result of a partnership between the Pasadena Community
Development Commission (PCDC), City of Pasadena Housing Department, and the
Pasadena Housing and Homeless Network. These entities have worked together since
1992 to formulate and implement the city’s continuum of care system for homeless
individuals and families. Copies of this report can be obtained through the following
web-sites: www.urban-initiatives.org and www.phhn.org.
For more information about this report please contact:
Anne Lansing
Project Planner
City of Pasadena Housing Department
626..744..8300
AALansing@CityofPasadena.Net Lansing@CityofPasadena.Net
The homeless count was coordinated by,, and this report was prepared by,,
Urban Initiatives
Joe Colletti, PhD, Project Director
Sofia Herrera, PhD, Project Associate Director
Andrew Wright, M. A., Program and Research Coordinator
in partnership with
Office for Urban Initiatives/Fuller Theological Seminary
Counters:
Ben Seavey, Carla Sanchez, Rebecca Wright, Amy Scott, Tomasz Zadurowicz, Luke
Malski, John Engelhard, Shannon Hetherington, Samuel Chen, Sam Chang, Michaela
O’Donnell, Karyn Grasse, Jee Ho Park, Jena Ashton, Gia Davis, Elizabeth McQuitty,
Elijah Davidson, Desiree Gutierrez, Catherine Baca, Brent T. Walmsley, Bianca
Vazquez, Virgiliana Pickering, Tim Wollin, Stephen Brown, Sheila Dominquez, Ruth
Eleutheria, Robert Garcia, Pat Riley, Rebekah Clark, Paul Pace, Minjung Kim, Maria
Martin, Lauren Meares, Kristin Titcombe, Joy Mosgofian, Joy Justus, Joni Ooi, Janette
Cardoza, Gabriela Cardoza, Guadalupe Cardoza, Felissia Cabrera, Esi Mathis, Dawn
Miller, Dan Lubin, Brandon Pickering, Aurora Lilly, Ana Jimenez, Dave McKinley,
Floriane Huser, Antonia DeBoer, Jongsuk Roh, David Ofumbi, Ryo Goto.
Special thanks
The Pasadena Police Department, particularly the Homeless Outreach Psychiatric
Evaluation Team and Park Safety Specialists, the Los Angeles County Department of
Mental Health, and the Passageways street outreach team were instrumental in
planning for and conducting the street count. Table of Contents
Page
I. Executive Summary 4
II. Background Information 4
When the 2009 Count was Conducted 5
Who was Counted 5
Who Carried Out the Count 6
III. Methodology 7
IV. Key Findings 8
V. Trends 12
VI. Conclusion 16
3I. Executive Summary
This report is meant to answer the primary question “How Many Homeless People Are
There In The City of Pasadena On Any Given Day.” The answer is 1,144 adults and
children which represents an increase (16%) in the number of homeless persons over
the past year.
Each year since 2005 the City of Pasadena has conducted an annual homeless count.
On the odd number years a complete count is conducted which includes the entire
geographical area of the city and every social service site that serves homeless
persons. On the even number years a “sample count” is conducted that includes 50% of
the geographical area and 50% of the social service sites that serve homeless persons.
As noted in the following table, the number of persons counted in 2008 is lower
(approximately 16%) than the number of persons counted in 2006 and even lower
(approximately 20%) since 2005.
Table 1: City of Pasadena Homeless Counts from 2005 – 2009.
Year
of Homeless Count
Total # of
Homeless Persons
2005 1,217
2006 1,165
2007 969
2008 983
2009 1,144
However, the number of persons counted in 2009 (1,144) is approximately 16% higher
than the 983 persons counted in 2008. Of the 1,144 persons counted in 2009, 911 were
adults (80%) and 233 were children (20%). Of these persons, 403 or 35.3% were
counted in residential facilities that included emergency shelters and transitional
housing programs and 741 persons (64.7%) were counted on the streets including the
bad weather shelter.
II. Background Information
The Department of Housing and Urban Development, as part of its requirements for
local jurisdictions to continue to receive continuum of care funding for homeless
persons, asks local jurisdictional applicants to conduct a “one night point-in-time”
homeless count every other year during the last 10 days of January. The City of
Pasadena, however, conducts a one night point-in-time count every year. This year, the
“City of Pasadena 2009 Complete Homeless Count” was conducted on Wednesday
January 28, 2009.
4The City of Pasadena’s first attempt to fully understand the nature and extent of
homelessness within its boundaries was through “The 1992 City of Pasadena Homeless
Count.” The City, in conjunction with the Pasadena Housing and Homeless Network,
conducted its own homeless count in September of 1992. The methodology of the count
was designed to find out how many people were homeless on a given night.
Approximately 250 volunteers went out into the streets and into homeless facilities and
counted 1,017 on September 23 and 24, 1992.
Table 2: City of Pasadena Homeless Counts from 1992 – 2009:
Homeless
Counts
# of Homeless
Persons
1992 1,017
2000 879
2003 853
2005 1,217
2006 1,165
2007 969
2008 983
2009 1,144
Other homeless counts were conducted in 2000 and 2003. In 2000, 879 adults and
children were counted and 853 adults and children were counted in 2003. In 2005,
1,217 adults and children were counted and in 2006, 1,165 were counted. In 2007, 969
adults and children were counted and in 2008 there were 983.
Comparing the 2007 homeless count to other past counts reveals that the number of
adults and children counted in 2008 (983) was significantly lower (16%) than the total
number of persons counted in 2006 which was 1,165, and 20% lower that the 1,217
persons counted in 2005. The number of persons counted in 2009 (1,144), however, is
approximately 16% higher than the 983 persons counted in 2008.
• When the 2009 Count was Conducted
The homeless count was conducted throughout the day on January 28, 2009. The count
was carried out on the streets throughout the day and evening. The count was also
conducted in facilities throughout the day and evening, including the winter shelter.
• Who was Counted in 2009
A person was considered homeless, and thus counted, only when he/she fell within the
following HUD-based definition by residing in one of the places described below:
a. in places not meant for human habitation, such as cars, parks, sidewalks, and
abandoned buildings;
b. in an emergency shelter;
5c. in transitional or supportive housing for homeless persons who originally
came from the streets or emergency shelter.
HUD does not consider the following persons to be homeless—persons who are
“doubled up,” or persons who are “near homelessness—but considers them to be at-risk
of homelessness. Such persons were not included in the city’s homeless count.
The City of Pasadena, like many other largely populated cities, has a substantial
number of households that are at-risk of homelessness. According to the U.S. Census
Bureau, in 2000, there were approximately 30,000 residents (nearly one of every four
residents) who were members of a household whose income was $15,000 a year or
less. Of these households, approximately half (15,000 residents) were members of a
household whose income was less than $10,000.
Many of these persons can become homeless because of social structural issues such
as increases in rent, loss of job, and rising health care costs. In addition, personal
experiences such as domestic violence, physical disabilities, mental illness, and
substance abuse can cause members of a low income household or an entire
household to become homeless as well. Often, one or more of these experiences factor
into a household’s homeless experience.
• Who Carried Out the Count in 2009
The City of Pasadena Housing Department and the Pasadena Housing and Homeless
Network consulted with Urban Initiatives, a community-based non-profit research
organization, to plan and coordinate the count (see www.urban-initiatives.org). Urban
Initiatives also enlisted 40 students from Fuller Theological Seminary’s Office for Urban
Initiatives to help count on the streets and in facilities.
The Housing Department oversees the development of the Consolidated Plan,
Homeless Continuum of Care System, and the City of Pasadena 10-Year Strategy to
End Homelessness. In addition, the Department implements a myriad of housing and
community development programs such as the HOME Tenant Based Rental
Assistance, Inclusionary Housing, Homeownership Opportunities Program, and the
provision of financial assistance to create and preserve affordable housing throughout
the city. The City of Pasadena Housing Department is also responsible for the
administration of numerous federal entitlement and competitive grant programs
including: Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment
Partnerships (HOME), Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) program, Housing Opportunities
for Persons with AIDS (HOPWA), Housing Choice Voucher Program (HCVP), and the
Continuum of Care for Homeless Assistance Programs (Supportive Housing Program
and Shelter Plus Care).
Pasadena Housing and Homeless Network (Network) is made up of more than 30
public and private agencies that provide community services to residents including
homeless persons. The Network has served as the primary community planning entity
concerning housing and homeless needs and services throughout the past 15 years.
6Such planning includes the Consolidated Plan, City of Pasadena 10-Year Strategy to
End Homelessness, and every Continuum of Care application submission to HUD since
1995.
The Institute for Urban Initiatives is a community-based 501 (c) (3) non-profit research
agency that has completed several many housing and homeless assessments including
several homeless counts for cities and counties throughout Southern California. It is
closely affiliated with Fuller Theological Seminary’s Office for Urban Initiatives.
Approximately 40 students from Fuller Theological Seminary’s Office for Urban
Initiatives participated in the count by forming teams to count on the streets and in
facilities. Students also helped with gathering data, entering data, and writing this report.
Together, these four agencies coordinated a community-wide effort of approximately
100 volunteers that culminated in a homeless count on January 28. Volunteers counted
persons both on the streets and in facilities that serve homeless persons.
III Methodology
The 2009 homeless count was a city-wide effort that divided the city into 16 zones in
which homeless people were counted. The count was carried out in the streets
throughout the day and evening within each zone. The count was also conducted in
facilities that serve homeless persons throughout the day and evening.
The count instrument that was used collected the following information concerning
every homeless person counted: first initial of first name, first initial of last name,
gender, ethnicity, year born, and state born as noted below.
First
Initial
Last
Initial
Gender Ethnicity Year
Born
State
Born
Example: J H F W 1960 CA
The methodology used during the enumeration process helped create an identifier that
prevented a person from being included in the final tally of the count more than once.
During the enumeration, counters recorded the initials, gender, ethnicity, year of birth,
and state born of each individual homeless person. If the same person was
encountered again counters would establish the same code. However, this person
would only be counted once in the final tally.
The information for every person encountered every time was loaded into a data base.
The information was then used to code each person. For example, a homeless person
may have the following code of “WTMW1957CA. This meant that this person’s first
name began with “W”, his last name began with “T”, he was male “M”, he was White
“W”, born in 1957, and born in California.
7Number of
Person
First
Initial
Last
Initial
Gender Ethnicity Year
Born
State
Born
1 J H F W 1960 CA
2 H T M L 1953 CA
3 R K F L 1972 TX
4 K N M AA 1969 CA
5 F A M A 1980 CA
6 J F M W 1971 CA
7 J F M W 1971 CA
8 S G F L 1968 NY
9 D T M W 1962 CA
10 O R M W 1959 CA
An example to illustrate how the above process worked can be found within the table
above. Numbers 6 and 7 (shaded in gray) would be considered the same person.
Therefore, the person would only be counted once in the final tally that answered the
question “how many homeless persons are there in Pasadena during a given day.” If for
some reason there was doubt that numbers 6 and 7 were the same person, other
collected data was used to address the doubt which included marital status and number
of children with you.
IV. Key Findings
This section contains specific demographic information about the 1,144 unduplicated
homeless adults and children encountered for this study. As noted above, in order to
create an identifier to avoid duplication, information about gender, ethnicity, year born
and state born was recorded for adults encountered and used as part of the identifier.
Identifier information for this study was only collected from adults.
However, the collection of the identifier information also allows for some demographic
analysis. Such analysis includes gender, ethnicity, age, and family status. What follows
are the preliminary results of the analysis.
• Gender
Approximately one out of three (3) adults counted was female (31.1%) representing 283
women. However, the majority of adults counted were male (68.9%) representing 628
men. Gender was not recorded for children.
8Table 1. Gender
• Ethnicity
Approximately one-third (33.3%) or 303 homeless adults counted were African
Americans or Blacks representing the largest ethnic group counted. Whites represented
less than one third of the adults counted (30.2% or 275 adults) and Latinos (26.5% or
242 adults) made up approximately one of every four adults. American Indian or
Alaskan Natives represented 2.0% or four (18) adults and Asian or Pacific Islanders
1.7% or 16 adults. Ethnicity was not recorded for children.
Table 2. Ethnicity

9
• Age
About one out of every five (20.4%) homeless persons is a child under the age of 18—
which means that more than 200 (233) children are homeless in Pasadena on a given
day.
Table 3. Age

Ages ranged from teens to seniors among adults and youth (17 years of age and older).
Seven percent (7.4%) were youth—2.3% (20) were between the ages of 17 and 19 and
5.1% (45) were between the ages of 20 and 24. Most adults were between the ages of
25 and 61—757 or 85.8%. Nearly seven (7) percent (6.8% or 61 adults) were seniors
age 62 or older, 5.1% or 45 adults were age 65 or older, and 2.8% or 25 adults were
age 70 and older.1
1
Twenty-eight (28) persons did not provide the year that they were born.
10
• Marital Status
An overwhelming majority of the adults counted were single (88.4% or 805). One
hundred and six (106) adults or 11.6% were married.
Table 4. Marital Status

11• Family Composition
Nearly one out of three persons (28.4%) or 322 persons were members of a family—
233 children and 89 parents. The 322 family members consisted of 60 families of which
31 or 51.7% were single-parent families and 29 or 48.3% were two-parent families.
Table 5. Family Composition

V. Trends
A comparative look at the limited data (gender, ethnicity, age, marital status, and family
composition) collected during past homeless counts reveals a few trends which include
the following:
1. the single population has increased—in 2005 single adults made up
approximately 80% of the homeless population and approximately 90% in
2007 and 2009;
2. members of families has decreased—in 2005, members of families made up
nearly half (49.2%) of the homeless population, less than one-third (30.3%) in
2007 and a little more than one-fourth (28.4%) in 2009;
3. the number of parents per family has increased—two parent households
made up 26.9% of families in 2005, 28.9% of families in 2007, and nearly half
(48.3%) of families in 2009.
12• Gender
Year of Count Men Women Total
# % # % # %
2005 516 65.9 266 34.1 782 100
2007 504 66.8 251 33.2 755 100
2009 628 68.9 283 31.1 911 100
The percentage of men and women has not varied during the past four (4) years.
Women have made up about a third (33.3) of the homeless population and men about
two-thirds.
• Ethnicity
Of the three largest ethnic groups, Hispanics or Latinos have remained the most
constant making up about one of four (4) homeless persons or approximately 25% of
the homeless population as noted in the table below. African Americans or Blacks or
Whites have been the largest of the ethnic groups. Either group has made up either a
little less or little more than one-third or around one out of every three (3) homeless
persons.
Ethnic Group 2005 Count 2007 Count 2009 Count
# % # % # %
African American or Black 288 36.9 220 29.2 303 33.3
American Indian or Alaskan Native 18 2.3 16 2.2 18 2.0
Asian or Pacific Islander 20 2.5 4 0.5 16 1.7
0
Hispanic or Latino 181 23.2 177 23.4 242 26.5
Other 48 6.1 52 6.8 57 6.3
White 227 29.0 286 37.9 275 30.2
Totals: 1,217 100 969 100 911 100
13• Age
Children (17 years of age or less)
Year of Count Children Adults Total
# % # % # %
2005 435 35.7 782 64.3 1,217 100
2007 214 22.1 755 77.9 969 100
2009 233 20.4 911 79.6 1,144 100
The percentage of children continues to decline among the homeless population. In
2005, children made up more than a third of the homeless population, whereas in 2007
children made up nearly a fourth of the homeless population. In 2009, children made up
nearly about a fifth of the homeless population.
Youth (ages 17-24
Year of Count Youth Other Adults Total
# % # % # %
2005 89 11.4 693 88.6 782 100
2007 53 7.0 702 93.0 755 100
2009 65 7.2 846 92.8 911 100
The number of youth ages 17 – 24 that make up the city’s homeless population
decreased between 2005 and 2009 and now makes up less than 10 percent (7%) of the
population. However, the number of youth increased between 2007 and 2009 and
contributed to the increase of the homeless population between this period of time. The
number of youth increased by more than 20% (22.7%) though the percentage of youth
increased slightly by 0.2%.
Seniors (age 62+)
Year of Count Seniors Other Adults Total
# % # % # %
2005 62 7.9 720 92.1 782 100
2007 63 8.4 692 91.6 755 100
2009 61 6.8 850 93.2 911 100
14The number of seniors that make up the homeless population has remained nearly the
same whether the city’s homeless population has increased or decreased over the past
four (4) years. The percentage of seniors has ranged between just under seven (7)
percentage to just over eight (8) percent.
• Marital Status
Year of Count Single Married Total
# % # % # %
2005 644 82.4 138 17.6 782 100
2007 696 92.2 59 7.8 755 100
2009 805 88.4 106 11.6 911 100
The number of single adults has significantly increased during the past four (4) years. In
2005 single adults made up approximately 80% of the homeless population and
approximately 90% in 2007 and 2009.
• Family Composition
Year of Count Members of
Families
Non-Members
of Families
Total
# % # % # %
2005 599 49.2 618 50.8 1,217 100
2007 294 30.3 675 69.7 969 100
2009 259 28.4 652 71.6 911 100
The number of members of families continues to decrease. In 2005, members of
families made up nearly half (49.2%) of the homeless population. However, in 2007
members of families made up less than one-third (30.3%) of the population and a little
more than one-fourth (28.4%) in 2009.
The number of parents per family has also changed over the past four (4) years. There
were more two-parent households in 2009 than in prior years as noted below:
• Two-parent households made up 26.9% of families in 2005;
• Two-parent households made up 28.9% of families in 2007;
• Two-parent households made up 48.3% of families in 2009.
1516
VI. Conclusion
The City of Pasadena 2009 Homeless Count was the product on a unique relationship
between the City of Pasadena, local coalitions and committees, housing and homeless
service providers, members of the homeless community, and community volunteers.
The Count contributes to a distinctive relationship between these groups that sets the
City of Pasadena apart and creates new possibilities for responding to the needs of
homeless adults and children.
The City of Pasadena 2009 Homeless Count is complemented by the “City of Pasadena
2007 Homeless Survey” whereas both reports provide the City with valuable data
concerning homelessness. The survey was completed during the spring of 2007 and is
available at www.phhn.org.
Both sources of information serve as a foundation to the 10-Year Strategy Plan to End
Homelessness which continues to help the City of Pasadena formulate findings and
make recommendations to substantially reduce the incidence of homelessness within
the city. These sources of data also provided important information for the City’s annual
Continuum of Care Application to HUD and the City of Pasadena Consolidated Annual
Action and CAPER Plans which are required submissions to HUD if Pasadena is to
continue to receive substantial funding to end homelessness within its jurisdiction.
Continuum of Care funding has provided funding for street outreach, case management,
transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing through its Supportive Housing
and Shelter Plus Care programs. Funding related to the Consolidated Plans include
Community Development Block Grant, Emergency Shelter Grant, HOME, and Housing
for Persons with AIDS funds which have also been used for case management,
transitional housing, and permanent supportive housing and emergency shelter.