We deeply appreciate our friends and supporters. Rejoice with us! Because of your support, we have some remarkable successes this year: 

¨ With 4,000 US churches closing each year,  our Congregational Land Team is helping churches to stay alive by equipping them to partner with an appropriate affordable housing developer and use underutilized land for affordable housing. Thank God for Phil Burns and Andre White who do the technical support for the 50 churches throughout So CA in this team’s pipeline throughout So Cal! This team also contacts with cities to pass religious overlay zone, making housing on church land possible.

¨ The Affordable/Supportive Housing Advocates (ASHA) is seeking to pass a citywide zoning amendment for Pasadena to allow affordable housing on religious land. It’s also working with the Jewish Temple, with a strong presence on this committee, that is planning an event to encourage landlord to accept Section 8 vouchers from low-income renters. This team, led by Anthony, played a significant role in planning a prayer vigil in April, with 60 participants, pastors, City Council members and Senators. We confessed our city’s racial injustices and committed ourselves to house our most vulnerable.

¨ MHCH became  a founding member of the Pasadena Affordable Housing Coalition, now comprising 15 Pasadena organizations committed to creating a strong Housing Element, which is a blueprint for housing for all income levels for the next 8 years, required by all CA cities. The State took to heart this Coalition’s well researched comments.

¨ Our Safe Parking Committee launched its pilot program at a church this spring, and one parker has finished the program and is now housed!  Sadly, today thousands live in their cars in the San Gabriel Valley. The goal of Safe Parking, led by Tom Petersmyeter, is to have safe parking sites in churches throughout San Gabriel Valley.

¨ Our ADU committee has achieved much of what it advocated for: preapproved plans, streamlined approvals, and incentivized low-income homeowners with $25,000 to build affordable ADUs and an affordable ADU pilot program—which won a national award! City staff believe that 1,200 ADUs could be built in our city in the next 8 years! This Committee, led by Anne Marie Molina, has now been “put to bed” after achieving its goals.

¨ Our San Gabriel Valley Community Land Trust (CLT) Committee is on the verge of spinning off as a nonprofit under the excellent leadership of Connie Tamkin and Margaret Lee. A CLT home is less expensive because homeowners will own only their home, but the trust will own the land, with a resale formula keeping it permanently affordable. 

¨ The North Fair Oaks Empowerment Initiative is creating hope in a neglected and divested historically African American corridor in Pasadena. Dr Walton and Jill supervised two interns in partnership with the City and the Complete Streets Coalition to survey 1,000 residents, asking if they support slowing traffic by changing lanes from two each way, to one each way with a center-turn land—and other measures to “beautify but not gentrify."

¨ Bert Newton, on our staff, continues to do excellent work in supporting churches to engage with housing justice. Pasadena Four Square put on Living Pasadena, a fair with booths, art, dance and more. It was glorious.

Because we feel hopeful about the future of affordable housing, we selected our theme this year, "A Change Gonna Come" (the title of a song by Sam Cooke). Governor Gavin Newsome just signed 31 bills that will invest an unprecedented $22 billion for housing and homelessness, and SB 9, permitting duplexes and fourplexes on single family lots. A change is definitely coming! Join us Tues, Nov. 30 at 7pm (online) and Sunday, Dec. 5th, 3-5pm in person at the Pasadena Four Square Church. See details on back and/or go to makinghousinghappen.org/celebrate.