Malibu Applies For State Funds To Address Homelessness

MALIBU, CA — Malibu City Council voted at a Tuesday meeting to apply for the Governor's 100-Day Challenge, a new program to offer California cities and counties the opportunity to receive state funds while incentivizing new initiatives to address homelessness.

The City will apply for the 100-Day Challenge with a Safe Parking Program location in Malibu, where people would be able to sleep safely overnight in vehicles with the requirement that they will be enrolled in services, the City news release said. The site would also include security and sanitation services. The City Council voted to explore Safe Parking Program locations during a special meeting on homelessness on January 29.

"Homelessness is America’s worst humanitarian crisis, and it impacts every city, county and state," Mayor Karen Farrer said. "That means that every community, including Malibu, must contribute to the solutions, and the 100-Day Challenge will offer us incentives and assistance so that we can develop some real measures."

Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP), a $650 million one-time block grant that GOvernor Newsom signed into law in July 2019, funds the 100-Day Challenge. HHAP provides local jurisdictions with funds to support regional coordination to expand or develop immediate homelessness challenges, the news release said.

"Communities have used the 100-Day Challenge to empower and support their pursuit of ambitious 100-day goals," the City of Malibu said.

In 2017, three communities in Washington launched a 100-Day Challenge focused on children and young adults experiencing homelessness. At the end of 100 days, 615 kids and young adults had transitioned out of homelessness, the City of Malibu said.

The State’s Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council will help cities establish collaborative relationships, identify a target population, and implement the 100-Day Challenge in their communities. In the 100-Day Challenge, the local government sets its own goal, and if that goal is met, the local government becomes eligible to receive additional money from the HHAP funds, the news release said.