We run the outreach to the homeless in Malibu, called S.O.S. We are currently trying to help an elderly Hungarian man and desperately need the community’s help. He is an 83 year old man who just recently went to the hospital for pneumonia from sleeping outside in the rain. The hospital says he is doing fine now. We’ve been working with social services in Los Angeles and Ventura County and they literally have nothing for him. We just discovered that while he has been in Malibu for a very long time, he is not a legal citizen and therefore has no benefits (health or otherwise). We have not been able to locate anyone who is related to him and even tried the Hungarian consul with no luck so far.
He is a very healthy 83, able to take care of himself, and spends most of his days at the coffee shops in Malibu. He just simply cannot continue to sleep on the streets. The doctors at the hospital have made it clear that his life is at risk if he continues to sleep outside. We have known him for about a year and he’s been a Malibu “resident” for over 20 years. He was living in a trailer on someone’s property for years and when they had to move, the new owners had the trailer removed leaving him homeless. Adult Protective Services said that they will put him up in a residential facility until Monday but then will bring him back to Malibu and drop him off on the street because they have no solutions for him. I called the residential facility and found out that they love him there but can’t keep him without $1,000 a month. I just got off the phone with Adult Protective Services and they are at a loss. I told them we would try the old fashioned route of putting the word out. Can anyone help?
Hollie Packman