Report on Pasadena’s Homelessness
City officials and homelessness experts are completing a report on Pasadena’s homeless that will provide unprecedented information, including their demographics and HIV status.
In a preliminary November, 1992, study, city officials revealed that a community-sponsored recount of Pasadena’s homeless found 1,017 people, or almost five times as many as reported in the 1990 Census. The count is significant because some state and federal funds, as well as grants, are based on the number of homeless people in a city.
Besides the homeless count, organizers surveyed the population on gender, ethnicity, age, mental health and other areas. Organizers want public input on how to analyze the survey data for the final report, said Joe Colletti, director of the San Gabriel Valley’s Lutheran Social Services and co-chairman of the Pasadena Housing and Homeless Network. For instance, organizers might target women of a certain age to find out how many of them have tested positive for the AIDS virus and how many of them completed high school.
The analysis will be used to put together a comprehensive strategy for dealing with the homeless that will be completed in April, 1994. A final report on the data analysis will be released in late November. The public meeting is scheduled from 1 to 3 p.m. on Oct. 5 at Rachel Center, 984 E. Locust St., Pasadena.
Colletti is one of 25 homelessness experts invited to participate in a two-day Census Bureau conference in Washington on Tuesday 8on how to improve the nationwide homeless count for Census 2000. His expenses are paid from federal funds.
