MALIBU—The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA) announced the results from the 2022 Homeless Count, on Monday, September 19. The county occurred in Malibu on February 23. The results showed 81 people experiencing homelessness in Malibu, a decline from 239 in 2020 and 157 in 2021. In Los Angeles County, 69,144 people were found to be experiencing homelessness, a 4.1 percent increase from 2020.
“On behalf of the City of Malibu, I thank our partners at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, The People Concern, the Las Virgenes – Malibu Council of Governments, the Malibu Homelessness Working Group, the Homelessness Task Force, the Malibu United Methodist Church, Malibu Community Assistance Resource Team (CART), and the community at large for the proactive, service-driven approach to addressing homelessness in the City,” said Mayor Paul Grisanti.
City staff, Malibu’s Homeless Outreach Team from The People Concern, and community volunteers participated in conducting the annual effort on foot and in vehicles to count the homeless population in the region. Every year, thousands of volunteers assist LAHSA with the street count of the County’s homeless population, providing data from the field to inform efforts to address homelessness across Los Angeles County.
The 2020 Homeless Count results showed 239 homeless people in the city of Malibu, up from 154 in 2019, and 155 in 2018. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, LAHSA did not conduct the Homeless Count in 2021. An informal count performed by the Malibu Homelessness Working Group showed 157 unhoused people in Malibu.
The reduction in homelessness reflects the positive results of the work by the Malibu Homeless Outreach Team since being enlisted and funded by Malibu in 2016, in coordination with city staff and the LASD’s Homeless Outreach Services Team (HOST). See the Homeless Outreach Team’s monthly reports at https://www.malibucity.org/1051/Outreach-Support.
There was a total of 69,144 homeless people in LA County, (up from 66,436 in 2020), of which 20,596 were sheltered (up from 18,395 in 2020), and 48,548 were unsheltered (up from 48,041 in 2020). Service Planning Area 5, which includes Malibu, Santa Monica and West Los Angeles, counted a total of 4,604 people (down from 6009 in 2020, the last time the Homeless Count was conducted). To see detailed results for SPA 5 and the County, visit LAHSA’s website at https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=6510-spa-5-hc2022-data-summary.
To learn more about Malibu’s efforts to address homelessness, including the City’s Homeless Strategic Plan, visit www.MalibuCity.org/Homelessness.
