County, Volunteers of America describe Pathway Home motel-based interim housing operations serving Duarte

At its Sept. 9 meeting, the Duarte City Council received an update on the county-run Pathway Home interim-housing operations serving Duarte and neighboring Monrovia, presented by Marco Santana, a principal analyst with the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative, and Saba Karen Tuckley, associate director for interim housing at Volunteers of America Los Angeles.

Santana told the council Pathway Home combines encampment resolution operations with motel-based interim housing and onsite services. “On 01/10/2023, the county board of supervisors voted to proclaim a local emergency for homelessness,” he said, and identified encampment resolution, interim and permanent housing placement, mental-health and substance-use services, and eviction prevention as the program’s missions. He said the county has conducted 62 Pathway Home operations since August 2023 and has moved more than 718 people into interim housing countywide and placed almost 400 into housing.

The local context, Santana said, included two Pathway Home operations focused on a subregional cluster between Monrovia and Duarte: the initial operation on June 5, 2024, and a refill operation on Feb. 12, 2025. “That accounts for 57 unhoused neighbors brought indoors across those two operations,” he said, and added that 28 people from Duarte and nearby unincorporated areas were placed into interim housing through those actions. Santana described services delivered on-site the day of operations: case management, benefits enrollment, behavioral- and physical-health screening, substance-use referrals, documentation services and a mobile clinic to provide medical assistance the day participants arrive.

Saba Karen Tuckley of Volunteers of America Los Angeles highlighted success stories and follow-up supports. “We partnered with Union Station in order to get him the support he needed,” she said of a long-time Duarte resident recently placed in permanent housing in Eagle Rock and receiving ongoing intensive case management. She also described a family from the wash area who are close to moving into permanent units and continue to receive support from VOA staff.

Council members asked about program length, tracking and continuity if county funding ends. Santana said site agreements are year-to-year and that parties may extend into a second year; he also said the county is tracking participants through the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) for retention and recidivism measures and can provide retention data to the city upon request. He cautioned that county budgeting pressures could affect long-term funding: “there’s a structural deficit with the county,” he said, and the county is still evaluating continuation beyond the current agreement period. Santana added the county has closed a previous site without leaving people unhoused by relocating participants into nearby interim housing.

Council members and the public expressed a range of reactions: Councilwoman Finley corrected a geographic detail in the presentation, and Council member King urged compassion while also raising concerns about “optics” and impacts on local businesses near town center. King said he was worried that placement adjacent to Duarte’s town center had deterred shoppers and described encounters he said he had observed near Huntington Drive. Council members asked staff to coordinate with businesses on reporting and to invite business owners to a future update; staff indicated they would prepare follow-up materials for the council.

The presentation was received on file; the council did not take formal policy action at the meeting. County and VOA staff said they are available to return with more detailed retention and fiscal data as requested.