SOUTH PASADENA, Calif. — It’s taken nearly three years for a small city nestled in the San Gabriel Valley to come up with a housing plan that California’s Attorney General, Rob Bonta, and the state’s housing department can sign off on.

What You Need To Know

  • A housing element is a blueprint of how much housing a city plans to build in a span of eight or so years, and where they plan to do it

  • Housing elements have always existed, but because of California’s severe housing shortage, new state laws are making sure they are enforced

  • Based on their projected population growth, South Pasadena is required to build 2,067 new units of housing by the year 2030

  • While major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles are building faster than ever, neighboring cities in the county are falling behind

The battle between South Pasadena and the state represents a larger issue across California when it comes to building affordable housing. While major metropolitan cities like Los Angeles are building faster than ever, neighboring cities in the county are falling behind.

Dr. Josh Albrektson is a neuroradiologist who has lived in South Pasadena with his wife and two young boys for about four years.

“It’s such a nice community here, central to everything and you know, I love it here,” he said.

But as he saw more of his friends and neighbors moving away — and more unhoused people in the streets — Albrektson became motivated to fight for affordable housing in his city.

“You know, there’s a lot of new laws that were passed in 2017 and in a lot of ways, these laws are not being enforced or were not being enforced,” he said. “So, I try my hardest to make sure that these laws do get enforced in places like South Pasadena.”

Albrektson is talking about the new push from state leaders like Bonta and California’s Department of Housing and Community Development, or HDC, that’s asking cities to build more housing than ever before to meet population growth, as the state grapples with a severe housing shortage.

South Pasadena was asked to build 2,067 new units of housing by approximately 2030, but up to this point they haven’t been able to break ground on construction, because the state’s housing department has rejected their plan repeatedly.

Their latest draft, however, is finally on the road to approval and Albrektson said that was all due to pressure from residents like him, and other community leaders, including Anne Bagasao — the co-founder of the South Pasadena Tenants’ Union.

She said her fight is focused on making sure renters — like herself — don’t get priced out of good neighborhoods.

“People deserve to stay housed they deserve to be in safe communities no matter where that is, they deserve to have their children go to good schools and it shouldn’t just be for the rich… we aren’t a 3.4-mile gated community,” she said.

Both Albrektson and Bagasao said small affluent cities like South Pasadena have been struggling with their housing elements, because they’ve been intentionally down-zoning for decades — in other words deliberately limiting their housing to keep people out.

According to data in the LA Almanac, South Pasadena had a population of 22,979 back in 1970. Most recent data show its population has only grown to about 26,000 in 2020, while other cities in Los Angeles County have either doubled or tripled in size.

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But city leaders like South Pasadena City Council member Janet Braun, who used to be on the city’s planning commission, said they’re not down-zoning, they just face unique challenges due to South Pasadena’s size.

“There’s a lot of people who’ve struggled with this, I think particularly neighborhoods that have built out like South Pasadena — we do have 10,000 housing units, so adding in a 3.4-square mile city an additional 2,067 units is a challenge,” Braun said.

Braun also acknowledged the flaws in previous versions of their housing element, and says thanks to hiring a new consultant and getting more creative in their approach, this latest version gets it right — by taking the missing middle into considering and adding more two- and fourplexes to their building plan, which can increase housing without taking away from South Pasadena’s charm.

“We got a lot of really great positive community input and I think we have really nailed layering in density and preparing for population growth,” she said.

Even Albrektson, who’s gone back and forth with the city on their plan for two years, said he’s pleased with this final draft, and is excited to see how his city will transform.

“I think it’s going to be a model city, shockingly I never thought I would be able to say that, but I hope people will actually be able to live here in south pas more than just the richest people in la county,” he said.