MALIBU—The city is inviting community members to join a virtual community meeting to discuss homelessness in Malibu on Wednesday, January 17, starting at 11 a.m.
“The homelessness crisis impacts everyone, housed and unhoused, here in Malibu and across the state,” said Mayor Steve Uhring. “It is critical that the City continue to offer outreach to help people experiencing homelessness to get into housing and comprehensive services This meeting will offer an opportunity for residents to join the discussions with our homeless service providers, law enforcement, City officials, business and civic leaders, and fellow community members.”
According to the city of Malibu website, participants can ask questions, share concerns, and hear updates on homelessness, homeless outreach efforts, and services from the City’s Homeless Outreach Team through The People Concern, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) the Las Virgenes-Malibu Council of Governments (COG) Homeless Outreach Coordinator, and City staff.
The city started contracting for homeless outreach services in 2017, beginning with two outreach workers and expanding in 2020 to include a housing navigator. The city of Malibu is aiming to balance its service-based approach to this humanitarian crisis with the need to address the public safety, environmental, wildfire safety and quality-of-life impacts of homelessness on the community.
The results from the Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA) Homeless Count on January 25, 2023, showed a continued decrease in people experiencing homelessness in Malibu. Since 2017, when the city started tracking the data, the homeless population has continuously declined as follows:
-2017 – 178
-2018 – 155
-2019 – 154
-2020 – 239
-2021 – 157
-2022 – 81
-2023 – 71
The meeting link is posted at www.MalibuCity.org/Homelessness. For more details, contact Public Safety Liaison Luis Flores at 310-456-2489, ext. 236 or lflores@malibucity.org. For information about Malibu’s efforts to address homelessness, visit the Homelessness webpage.
By Trevor