Pasadena’s Red Cross wildfire shelter is shutting down soon. Where will evacuees go next?

The evacuation shelter at the Pasadena Civic Center is expected to close soon — possibly next week — according to operators, leaving more than 200 remaining wildfire evacuees to wonder where they will go next.

The facility, operated by the American Red Cross, has housed hundreds of displaced residents since the Eaton Fire erupted Jan. 7, damaging or destroying more than 6,000 homes in Altadena and Pasadena. As of early this week, more than 270 residents were still sheltered there, Red Cross officials said.

L.A. County officials are saying the shelter will close Feb. 12, but the Red Cross and Pasadena officials say no official date has been set. They say they are working with the county to identify a location for a new shelter closer to Altadena.

"We want to make it clear that no one will be left behind or shut out,” Pasadena officials said in a statement Wednesday.

But people in the shelter aren’t so sure.

“If I don't find a place, I will go buy a tent and go up on my land and just set up camp, because sleeping on my land will be a little safer than sleeping in a park under a tree," said Alphonso Browne, who had lived in his Altadena home for 30 years before it burned.

Alphonso Browne lost his home in Altadena to the Eaton Fire and has been staying at the Pasadena Civic Center since.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Looking for a new shelter

Angel Sauceda, regional communications director for The Red Cross said Pasadena shelter residents will be moved into a new shelter once a location is identified. In the meantime, Sauceda said, Red Cross workers are meeting with evacuees to make sure each has a plan for next steps that is tailored to their needs.

That may include connecting some residents with short-term stays in hotels or Airbnbs, according to Pasadena officials.

But evacuees say the uncertainty is causing anxiety.

“They say Friday, and then I heard a guy say it's gonna be Sunday," said a woman who asked that her name not be used in this story. She said she’s been living at the shelter since Jan. 8.

"This is not hopscotch or playtime," she said. "This is real life.”

Kamaisha Peppars, who has been at the shelter since Jan. 12, said many evacuees need more time to figure out how to rebuild their lives from nothing.

“We’ve never been through this before,” she said. “We don't know what to do. We come to you guys for help, for resources. I know a lot of people would like to have it happen overnight, but it doesn't work that way.”

Once a new shelter is opened to replace the one in Pasadena, it will stay open as long as it is needed, according to shelter operators.

“The Red Cross will continue to have a congregate sheltering option until all the residents have a plan in place to get them to their next housing solution,” Sauceda said.

A shelter resident interacting with a Red Cross worker at the Pasadena Civic Center.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Why is it closing?

The Pasadena shelter opened Jan. 7, about 90 minutes after Cal Fire ordered evacuations in the city. At first, it was operated by the city, but the Red Cross took over a few days later. According to the Red Cross, representatives from the Civic Auditorium Complex asked the nonprofit to return the facility to the city for normal operations by early February.

The Red Cross signed a 30-day agreement with the city of Pasadena in January to operate the shelter, Finance Director Matthew Hawkesworth told councilmembers at a meeting Monday. Other events are scheduled to happen at the Convention Center later this month.

“Some business decisions will have to be made,” he said.

City and Civic Center representatives did not respond to LAist’s questions about those agreements, but the facility’s online calendar shows a full slate of events scheduled this month. They include a comedy show scheduled this Saturday in the auditorium and a youth leadership conference next week in the conference center. Next month, the Pasadena Civic Auditorium is scheduled to host live tapings of NBC’s "America’s Got Talent."

Los Angeles County, along with the Red Cross, is responsible for moving the remaining residents into another facility, according to Pasadena City Councilmember Tyron Hampton. He explained that most of the people still sheltering there are not residents of Pasadena, but of Altadena.

The Red Cross confirmed this week that two-thirds of the current shelter residents are from Altadena.

“We have the jurisdiction for our Pasadena residents,” Hampton said. “Unfortunately, we don't have the jurisdiction to do all we can for our county residents. And so the county is transitioning them to another facility.”

Officials with L.A. County's Coordinated Joint Information Center confirmed they are helping to find a new shelter site.

Residents say they’re having trouble finding new places to live at rates they can afford. Rent is already high for many in L.A. County residents, and some have reported instances of price gouging after the fires. Shortly after the fires began, tenant advocates began tracking hundreds of online listings for rental housing that raised asking rents far above the 10% post-disaster limit set by state law.

Many people displaced by the recent wildfires have encountered rent increases of 30% or more and a severe lack of available units.

"With so many of us displaced, it's hard to find a place, and the rent has gone from reasonable rent, like $1,000-$1,500, to like $2,500 and above," said Browne, who survives on Social Security retirement benefits.

William Lee, an Altadena resident who also relies on Social Security, said he hasn't gotten much help finding housing.

“There’s nothing from FEMA, nothing from the Red Cross, no emergency Section 8,” he said. “There is no subsidized housing for us. This is something that we need. I need some help.”

American Red Cross officials outside of the Pasadena Civic Center.

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Aaron Schrank

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LAist

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Shelter conditions

Some evacuees say conditions at the convention center have been bad and described high turnover in Red Cross staff and volunteers.

“Everybody comes in with their own different rules and their own different way of doing things,” Browne said. “There’s no one system, so everyone is confused.”

In recent days, shelter residents sleeping in separate rooms have been consolidated into a single room, a cause of concern for some evacuees.

“We were condensed into one room where animals, children, everyone was just condensed into this room," Lee said. “I’m a disabled dialysis patient. Twice a week I have to have a safe place where I can lay down and just be relaxing.”

Last month, there was an outbreak of stomach flu among evacuation center residents, according to Pasadena Public Health officials.

“A lot of people got sick,” said Browne. ” We were bringing in our own food because a lot of people in here cannot eat the food. The children were getting sick from the food.”

Several evacuees say their experience at the shelter has changed their view of the American Red Cross, though some acknowledge positive interactions with several staff and volunteers.

“I had a lot of respect for the Red Cross,” said Browne. “But now that I'm here, I have lost so much respect for them.”

Red Cross officials did not respond to LAist’s request for a response to evacuees' complaints about the shelter.

Aside from the Pasadena Civic Center, the Red Cross also continues to operate a wildfire evacuation shelter at Westwood Recreation Center. That shelter remains open and had 88 people living there as of Wednesday.

Red Cross officials did not say when that facility is scheduled to close.