Malibu City Council Proposes Bold Steps To Address Homelessness

From the City of Malibu: The Malibu City Council approved starting work on several measures to address homelessness in Malibu during a special meeting on January 29, pursuing Safe Parking locations where people can sleep safely overnight in vehicles and have access to on-site social services, with security and sanitation services, as well as a future homeless shelter.

“We need to be bold and we need to be innovative and we need to act on addressing the humanitarian crisis of homelessness in our community,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Mikke Pierson, who initiated the proposals. “Malibu should be a model city and community for addressing homelessness. If we don’t act now, things are going to be forced on us by the state and the county, so we need to make some hard choices and be masters of our own fate.”

The City Council voted unanimously to direct staff to return with a report to City Council with options for Safe Parking locations, including all public property, exploring a temporary homeless shelter at the former County Courthouse property in the Civic Center, potential staffing needs, and any funding sources needed to implement any of these options. Staff members will also be visiting Laguna Beach this winter to study how those communities have successfully implemented homeless shelters.

The City is currently unable to enforce its ordinance prohibiting camping on public property, including sleeping in vehicles, because of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision on Martin v. City of Boise, which prohibits the enforcement of such ordinances unless there are available alternatives such as a shelter or a Safe Parking location.

The City Council convened the special council meeting on January 29 solely to discuss the current state of homelessness in Malibu, its impacts on the community, challenges, and current and potential solutions to address the homeless crisis. The meeting offered a constructive forum for community members to offer their feedback, concerns and ideas, hear perspectives from law enforcement, and non-profit homeless service providers.

The City has been working to address homelessness in the community with numerous efforts, including adding budget funding for homeless efforts, and contracting with the People Concern since 2016 to have two full-time homelessness outreach workers dedicated to Malibu. They connect people in need to the People Concern’s wraparound social services, medical and mental services.

In 2019, the City Council approved the use of Measure H funds to hire a full-time housing navigator to aid in transitioning homeless individuals into housing.

The Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station has a Deputy whose primary responsibility is to respond to homeless individuals, and has a Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST) and a Mental Evaluation Teams (MET). HOST pairs specially trained deputies with outreach workers from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to respond to homelessness calls. MET are teams of a Deputy and a Department of Mental Health clinician that respond to situations involving persons with mental health issues in order to de-escalate such incidents so that they don’t result in incarceration, violence or use-of-force.

In 2018, the City Council adopted the Homelessness Strategic Plan with the goal of improving the effective use of existing resources, aligning Malibu’s local efforts with those of Los Angeles County and balancing the need to protect public safety while addressing the humanitarian and long-term needs of homeless individuals.

Twice a year, the City participates in the Los Angeles County’s Homeless Connect Day, where numerous public agencies and non-profit organizations bring services directly to people experiencing homelessness in one location.

The City conducts a monthly Homelessness Working Group that brings together representatives from the Sheriff’s department, faith groups, non-profit organizations, business community, and residents to discuss homelessness. Every year, the City participates in the LAHSA Homelessness Count.

The City has introduced an ordinance, which is still moving through the approval process, restricting overnight parking on several sections of Pacific Coast Highway to address the impacts of people sleeping in vehicles on the highway.

The City Council adopted an ordinance in 2019 to facilitate the removal of encampment during red flag fire conditions in order to reduce the risk of wildfires.

Video of the special council meeting on January 29 is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhJOAJt0Nug.

To learn more about all of the City of Malibu’s efforts to address homelessness, including the Homeless Strategic Plan, monthly reports from the People Concern Outreach Team, results from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s Homeless Counts, and a link to sign up for e-notification by text and email to stay up to date on meetings and events related to homelessness https://www.malibucity.org/homelessness.

To request services on behalf of a homeless individual please go to LAHSA’s Homeless Outreach Portal at https://www.lahsa.org/portal/apps/la-hop/request or call 213-683-3333.