Register and buy a ticket for our annual celebration at the First United Methodist Church of Pasadena, 500 E. Colorado Blvd, on Saturday, Nov. 7, from 3:30-5:30 pm.
Thanks to generous donors, we can provide tickets for free or at reduced rate to those who cannot afford $30. Please contact anthony@makinghousinghappen.org for your comp ticket. No one who wants to attend will be excluded!
Keynote speaker: Greg Comanor, an affordable‑housing developer and public‑policy practitioner based in Los Angeles, best known for his leadership roles at Daylight Community Development and involvement with Elysian Housing. which is developing a 133-unit 100% affordable housing project in east Pasadena, for families and people experiencing homelessness.
Karina Toro, a high school intern for MHCH, will discuss her experience living in affordable family housing in Pasadena.
Anthony Manousos, co-founder of MHCH, will speak about how affordable family housing benefits public schools.
Affordable Housing Rock Star Award honorees to be announced.
At our annual celebration we’ll not only honor those who championed housing justice, there will also be music and light refreshments and a chance to connect with those who are making a difference in the world of housing justice and community revitalization.
Celebrating successes.....
Lack of fordable housing affects all aspects of life, causing insecurity and stress in families, and even the performance of children in school. Families paying more than half their income on housing struggle to afford essentials like health care, food and clothing in addition to rent. The renderings above show family housing we have advocated for: housing for teachers and staff at the closed Roosevelt School site (left) and the Rosemead Apartments (right), which will contain 68 units for low-income families and 50 units for those experiencing homelessness. This project is being developed by Elysian Housing whose principal, Greg Comanor, will be our keynote speaker.
A study commissioned by the School Board confirms that
affordable family apartments are indeed more beneficial to
PUSD than market rate apartments, or even single family homes.
According to Pasadena
Now, on Thursday, August 30, demographic consultant NDC
presented a report to the Pasadena Board of Education:
"The report found that recently constructed housing
contained few students. The 2,852 housing units built since
2015 yielded 129 students in 2025. The 2,454 market-rate units
built in that period contained 81 students, or roughly one
student for every 30 units."
"Affordable family or workforce housing produced
significantly more students. The 90 affordable family or
workforce housing units built since 2015 contained 45
students, a yield of one student for every two units."
We know the cure for our housing crisis: pro-affordable-housing policies and more affordable apartments and homes! We’ve made important strides here in Pasadena, with one in 10 now living in affordable housing and today over a 1,000 more affordable apartments in the pipeline (with 500+ of these in East Pasadena-an affordable housing resistant community). The fierce NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) movement is one reason our educational and advocacy work is so essential.
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People’s hearts and minds often change when they hear the stories of people like Suzanne Lee, whose lives have been transformed by affordable housing. This year we formed two new Housing Justice Fellowship teams working in coalition with groups like Abundant Housing and LA Voice. This community-building effort is how we influence policy makers to support affordable housing. Thanks to years of community-building and advocacy, we’ve reduced Pasadena’s homeless count by over 50%! We also scored a big win this spring when the Planning Commission approved naming a portion of N. Fair Oaks “The Black Legacy District.” They also approved public art, business support and 48 units an acre, which will revitalized the area and make affordable housing feasible. Black residents feeling neglected by the city for years are feeling heard. We are excited that Altadena residents are seeking to create a Black Cultural District in their town. We are seeking ways to synergize with them since the Black community of Altadena and Pasadena are profoundly interconnected. Over past year we provided Louise St. Juste with an RV to live on the site where her home was burned as it is being rebuilt. She wants to pass her rebuilt home on to her family to build generational wealth. We are excited that the team we started 7 years ago to support congregations to provide affordable housing this year has become its own nonprofit: Congregational Land Partners. It is going strong, with 37 congregations provided with technical advisement that will produce 1,700 affordable units.
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Our goals for the future.....
 | We continue to partner with Pasadena’s Clergy Community Coalition (CCC), comprised of over 100 pastors that meet monthly to hear from and pray for city officials. MHCH and CCC’s Housing Justice Committee are working to promote the Right to Return for Altadenans displaced by the wildfires and for Pasadenans displaced for economic reasons and exclusionary policies. During the CCC’s 20th anniversary celebration in September, 2025, MHCH was honored for our housing justice work. We will also continue our educational work: our Housing Justice Institutes and our Housing Justice Forum. We will be promoting the use of The Unjust Housing Game (which we created and played since 2017) and is now published professionally! It was played at the 7th Day Adventist Ending Homelessness Conference in NorCal in November, 2025, by over 120 attendees. Joelle Chinnock, conference coordinator, said, “The Unjust Housing Game is a powerful, interactive tool that sparks meaningful conversation about the complex, painful and often overlooked history of housing segregation and inequality in America.” It’s also fun to play! Copies will be available at our annual event and through this link: https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/the-unjust-housing-game .
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Our Call to Action
To join one of our campaigns, or to learn more about our work, contact our Executive Director Bert Newton at ber@makinghousinghappen.org
FAQ or Contact
For more info contact anthony@makinghousinghappen.org and go to our website: makinghousinghappen.org
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