Homelessness Declining in Pasadena

Even as our skirt-wearing neighbor to the south continues to struggle to alleviate homelessness, Pasadena has seen another year of fewer folks sleeping on the streets. Janette Williams reports on the third annual decline in the local homeless population.

Pasadena's annual count in January showed 969 homeless - 722 adults and 214 children - down from 1,165 in 2006 and 1,217 in 2005, said Joe Colletti, the agency's executive director.

"It's a shrinking population," he said. "The methodology of the count can't answer why, but it can show trends."

He added, "It's very clear there's a significant decrease of African-American women under the age of 40 with children ... and of Latino and white women with children, and an overall significant decrease in the number of children. The number of children has gone down by half - in 2005 there were 435."

Fewer kids on the street can only be a good thing.