Pasadena officials will meet with Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger on Monday, November 9, to discuss homelessness, coordination between city and county agencies, and possible joint efforts to address homeless encampments.
The special meeting comes as Pasadena continues working to connect people experiencing homelessness with shelter and permanent housing while responding to concerns about encampments in public spaces.
The City Council and Barger will also discuss Pasadena's share of funding from Measure ER, a countywide health care sales tax approved by voters earlier this year.
Both subjects involve questions about how Pasadena and Los Angeles County divide responsibilities, coordinate services and allocate limited public resources.
City and County Will Discuss a Joint Approach to Homeless Encampments
According to the meeting agenda published November 5, city officials and Barger will receive an update on Los Angeles County's housing and homelessness efforts.
The discussion will include opportunities for cooperation with Pasadena's City Council Committee on Housing, Homelessness and Planning.
A separate portion of the discussion will focus specifically on coordinating efforts to address homeless encampments.
The agenda does not identify particular encampments, describe proposed enforcement actions or specify whether the city and county intend to create a new program.
Instead, the meeting provides an opportunity for officials to consider how their agencies can work together more effectively.
That coordination can be important because homelessness rarely fits neatly within city boundaries.
Someone experiencing homelessness in Pasadena may need county-administered health care, mental health services or other assistance in addition to services offered locally.
City officials may also need county cooperation when responding to situations that involve multiple agencies or service providers.
But better coordination doesn't automatically mean additional shelter beds or permanent housing will become available. Those outcomes depend on the resources and programs the agencies can actually provide.
Pasadena Still Has Hundreds of Residents Experiencing Homelessness
Pasadena's most recent Point-in-Time Homeless Count identified 577 people experiencing homelessness in January 2026.
That was nearly unchanged from the 581 people counted the previous year.
The numbers show a mixed picture.
Unsheltered homelessness decreased approximately 6%, while the number of people staying in shelters and other temporary accommodations increased approximately 7%.
Of the 577 people counted, 322 were unsheltered and 255 were in sheltered locations.
The findings suggest that more residents were accessing temporary accommodations, although the total number experiencing homelessness remained relatively stable.
The count also highlighted the continuing effects of the January 2025 Eaton Fire.
Among unsheltered people surveyed, 29% reported being affected by the disaster.
That matters for Pasadena because homelessness can involve several overlapping problems, including the loss of affordable housing, financial instability, medical needs and displacement following an emergency.
Addressing an encampment may improve conditions in a particular location, but a lasting solution requires helping residents obtain housing they can maintain.
Why Coordination With Los Angeles County Matters
Pasadena operates its own housing and homelessness programs, but it also depends on partnerships with county agencies and nonprofit service providers.
Those relationships can affect everything from street outreach to access to health care and longer-term housing assistance.
For example, someone living outdoors may need immediate shelter while also requiring medical treatment, help obtaining identification or assistance applying for benefits.
Those services aren't necessarily administered by the same organization.
When agencies don't coordinate well, people may be referred from one program to another without receiving the full range of assistance they need.
The upcoming meeting offers city and county officials an opportunity to discuss how to reduce those gaps.
It also raises questions about how responsibilities should be divided when an encampment creates sanitation, safety or accessibility concerns.
The city must consider the needs of people living outdoors alongside the concerns of residents, businesses and others who use public spaces.
The challenge is developing responses that address immediate conditions without simply moving people from one location to another.
Whether Monday's discussion produces a new agreement or operational changes remains to be seen.
Measure ER Funding Is Also on the Agenda
The second major issue involves Measure ER, the half-cent sales tax approved by Los Angeles County voters in June 2026.
The measure is intended to help support essential county services, particularly health care, as federal funding reductions place additional pressure on hospitals, clinics and public health programs.
The tax is projected to generate approximately $1 billion annually over five years.
Although homelessness is a separate agenda topic, public health funding is relevant to the broader network of services used by people experiencing housing instability.
However, Measure ER is primarily a health care funding measure, not a dedicated homelessness tax.
Pasadena's concern involves how much of that revenue should support the city's independently operated public health department.
Pasadena and Long Beach are the only two cities in Los Angeles County that maintain their own municipal public health departments.
Under the county's initial spending plan, approximately 1% of Measure ER revenue was designated for the two departments combined.
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo has argued that the allocation does not adequately reflect the cities' contributions to the tax or their responsibilities for providing public health services.
In a July letter to the Board of Supervisors, Gordo requested a review of the funding arrangement.
The issue has remained under discussion between the county and the two cities.
How Should Pasadena's Share Be Calculated?
One point of disagreement involves the method used to divide the designated funding between Pasadena and Long Beach.
The original county approach relied on historical spending for core public health services.
In September, Supervisors Barger and Janice Hahn proposed changing that calculation to a population-based method, reviewed annually.
Such a change could affect how much funding each city receives, although the final amount would depend on the county's allocation decisions and available revenue.
The broader funding picture remains uncertain.
A legal challenge to Measure ER has temporarily prevented the county from spending the newly collected revenue. According to the county's September 30 announcement, the money must remain in an escrow account while the litigation proceeds.
That means discussion of Pasadena's future share should not be confused with money that is already available for new programs.
Monday's agenda does not indicate whether officials will agree on a revised allocation or make any new financial commitments.
Residents Can Attend the November 9 Meeting
The special joint meeting is scheduled for Monday, November 9, at 3:30 p.m. in the Pasadena City Hall Council Chamber, Room S249, at 100 N. Garfield Avenue.
Members of the public may attend or follow the meeting through Pasadena Media and the city's online viewing options.
Because it is a special meeting, public comments will be limited to the subjects listed on the agenda.
Residents interested in homelessness programs, encampment responses or local public health funding can review the agenda before the meeting.
For questions about attendance or public participation, the Pasadena City Clerk's Office can be reached at (626) 744-4124.
What Happens Next?
The November 9 discussion is an opportunity for Pasadena and Los Angeles County to review their working relationship on homelessness and public health services.
But the meeting itself is not a guarantee of new housing, additional funding or changes to encampment enforcement.
Those decisions would require further action by the appropriate agencies.
For Pasadena residents, the most meaningful developments will be whether officials identify specific ways to coordinate services, clarify agency responsibilities and improve access to assistance.
The city continues to face a homelessness problem affecting hundreds of people, even as its latest count shows some improvement in the number living outdoors.
More effective cooperation with Los Angeles County could help address gaps in services.
Whether that cooperation produces measurable improvements will depend on the decisions officials make after the discussion.
Sources
Original news reporting: Pasadena Now, November 7, 2026. Pasadena City Council, Supervisor Barger to Discuss Homelessness and Measure ER Funding Monday.
Official meeting agenda: City of Pasadena, posted November 5, 2026. Special Joint Meeting — November 9, 2026.
Official homelessness statistics: Pasadena Partnership to End Homelessness. 2026 Point-in-Time Homeless Count Results.
Measure ER funding dispute: Pasadena Now, August 10, 2026. Gordo Urges County to Reconsider Measure ER Funding for Pasadena and Long Beach.
Official county announcement: Los Angeles County, September 30, 2026. Legal Challenge Freezes Spending of Measure ER Taxes.
