MALIBU—On Friday, February 2, the city of Malibu announced on its website a reduction in individuals dealing with homelessness in the city of Malibu. On January 24, Malibu partook in the 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count along with The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority (LAHSA) and community volunteers. The local count showed 51 people experiencing homelessness in Malibu; it is the lowest number since 2016, when the city started participating in the Homeless Count, and it is a 30 percent decline since the 2023 Homeless Count.
“I am proud of the progress that the City has made in addressing homelessness in Malibu and I thank all the volunteers, staff and partner agencies that participated in the Homeless Count,” said Mayor Steve Uhring. “The steadily declining numbers of unhoused people in Malibu proves the effectiveness of the City’s approach. We are helping unhoused people get real services, get into housing, and get reunified with their families and communities while addressing the public safety, public health, and quality of life impacts on our community.”
A total of 18 volunteers participated with the City’s Homeless Outreach Team through The People Concern, and staff. Volunteers were assigned to a group that covered a particular census-designated area within the city limits in order to look for individuals, families, cars, RVs, tents, and makeshift shelters.
Among those included in the 2024 count, 16 individuals were found to be living in cars, 13 in vans/SUVs, five in campers/RV’s, seven in makeshift shelters, and nine in tents, for an approximate total of 51 (some vehicles were occupied by more than one person).
The data follows reports that the City’s Homeless Outreach Team helped 51 individuals in Malibu exit homelessness in 2023 through placement in permanent and interim housing, or family reunification.
Since 2016, when Malibu started tracking the data, the city’s homeless population has continuously declined as follows:
-2016 – 161
-2017 – 178
-2018 – 155
-2019 – 154
-2020 – 239
-2021 – 157*
-2022 – 81
-2023 – 71
-2024 – 51
The city of Malibu reported on its website that the LAHSA Count was cancelled, but an informal count was conducted in Malibu. The city continues to partner with the Malibu Homeless Outreach Team and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to proactively identify and remove all encampments in city limits. Malibu, in partnership with law enforcement, County, and outreach partners, cleared 29 encampments in 2023, 41 in 2022, and 58 in 2021.
People living in encampments are always given advance notice, and outreach is conducted to offer services and shelter and/or housing, and their possessions are stored and tracked. Any necessary environmental cleanup is conducted, and the sites are revisited to ensure that new encampments are not established.
During Red Flag fire conditions, Malibu can fast-track the removal of encampments to prevent fires when the Malibu City Council declares a local emergency due to high fire risk, which it did in 2021 and 2022. As a result, the number of fires originating from encampments dropped from 23 in 2021, to four in 2022, to two in 2023.
The 2024 Homeless Count results reflect the continuing effectiveness of the city’s proactive approach to addressing homelessness in partnership with the Homeless Outreach Team, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, and the community at large. Malibu began contracting for homeless outreach services in 2017, beginning with two outreach workers and expanding in 2020 to include a housing navigator. City staff will continue the partnership to ensure continued homeless outreach success.
For more details about the city’s efforts to address homelessness, contact Public Safety Liaison Luis Flores at lflores@malibucity.org or call 310-456-2489, ext. 236 or visit the Homelessness webpage.
