Malibu Pressures Church To Stop Serving Homeless Dinners

MALIBU, CA – For the past 17 years, religious groups fed the homeless, and the City of Malibu and private donors contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars for social workers to find them housing and services. However, that's about to change.

Malibu United Methodist Church has decided that twice-weekly dinners for the homeless would stop after Thanksgiving due to pressure the church faced from the city. This decision was made after city officials summoned organizers and suggested they were making the problem worse by attracting more homeless people to the city, according to Los Angeles Times.

At a public hearing last week, Mayor Skyler Peak denied ordering the meals to end, but he also apologized for the "miscommunication," LA Times reported.

“I just think we need to treat people like our brother and don’t look where they came from,” Kay Gabbard, one of the meal organizers, said.

Peak said the city wanted to cooperate with volunteers to find a solution.

“I will stand by the fact that everyone up here is compassionate about everyone in the community,” he said.

Malibu has a population of 13,000 with roughly 180 homeless residents – but no shelter or housing for poor people, the Times reported. To read more, visit the Los Angeles Times.

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