Malibu City Council meets Wednesday, July 21, to select community members to sit on a new 10-person homelessness task force. The special meeting was announced on Tuesday, just one day before it was to be held, and comes as homelessness complaints reached a fever pitch in Malibu. In recent weeks, homeless encampments are thought to have started multiple fires in and around the city.
“The task force will be charged with reviewing existing efforts, evaluating the need for an alternative sleeping location (ASL), developing strategies to mitigate the fire safety concerns of encampments located in open space and on undeveloped private property, addressing other issues related to homelessness, and providing regular updates and recommendations to the city council,” according to information provided by the city. It will be made up of 10 people, with each council member appointing two representatives.
When city council voted to approve a 10-person task force at the last meeting on Monday, July 12, it was understood that no nominations would be made until the council’s next regular meeting—set for mid-August. Residents complained that the issue could not wait.
The meeting’s other agenda item was regarding “nuisance abatement.” The hearing is “aimed at strengthening the city’s ability to hold private property owners responsible for unabated nuisances on their property, particularly homeless encampments that have been tied to a brush fire or are at high risk of starting a fire.”
The public meeting was set to begin at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, and would be available to watch live on YouTube or via Zoom, where members of the public were invited to sign up to speak. A closed session item that is not open to the public would begin at 4:15 p.m.
The meeting agenda may be viewed at malibucity.org/agendacenter. Watch the meeting at malibucity.org/virtualmeeting or youtube.com/user/cityofmalibu.