Southern California is facing a housing crisis of immense proportions. Every city in our region needs to step up and build more homes to make housing more accessible and affordable so that we can take on this crisis together. That's why we're sending this petition to Mayor Tornek and Pasadena City Council to urge them to do their part in making Pasadena a more affordable and inclusive city. Read the text of our petition below, and sign to tell our leaders to do their part in ending our housing crisis. 

Dear Mayor Tornek and City Council, 

We are residents of Pasadena writing to express our concerns about our city's affordable housing shortage. Exclusionary zoning and land use practices have led to an undersupply of affordable medium- and high-density housing near jobs and transit, and have perpetuated segregated living patterns and the exclusion of historically disadvantaged communities.

Several new state laws have strengthened the Regional Housing Needs Assessment (RHNA), which sets a housing growth target for jurisdictions and requires jurisdictions to update their housing elements in compliance with these targets. We believe that solving the region's housing crisis requires cities like Pasadena to update housing elements in a way that encourages higher-density affordable housing production. 

The upcoming RHNA process requires Pasadena to accommodate 9,409 new housing units by 2029. Based on recent commentary from Pasadena's elected officials, including you, we are concerned that Pasadena will fail to fulfill its obligation to update its housing element in a way that fully accommodates the RHNA target and conforms with state law. 

It is possible for Pasadena to accommodate 9,409 more homes by the end of the decade; this will require Pasadena to update its zoning and land use rules, allow more higher-density housing production, and to prioritize funding for affordable housing opportunities. This will increase the supply of housing at all income levels, especially near jobs and transit, and bring down rents. As the housing element update process begins, we urge you to embrace the opportunity to make Pasadena a more affordable, inclusive city and help end our region's housing crisis.