Winter Shelter for Malibu Homeless Is Casualty of the Canyon Fire

• Old School Bus Provided Makeshift Sleeping Quarters during Cold and Rainy Weather

BY ANNE SOBLE

Nighttime temperatures have been in the fifties, and fog hangs heavy in the air. There are a small number of people in the community, mostly invisible to the residents of Malibu, who need refuge from the elements.

The Canyon Fire that transformed the Malibu Presbyterian Church into a mound of ashes also destroyed one such refuge—the community’s winter shelter for the homeless in the Civic Center area.

SOS Community Outreach, an all-volunteer group that quietly provided cold weather quarters to those in the community with nowhere else to go, was able to sleep up to 20 adults in a modified school bus that was parked out of sight in keeping with its general low profile.

The bus—its yellow exterior paint peeled off by the intense heat—was burned down to the frame when the 100-mph-wind-driven flames ravaged Malibu Canyon on Oct. 21.

The converted school bus was the only formal overnight emergency shelter in the Malibu area.

SOS Community Outreach began in the fall of 2000 outside a local coffee shop. Its members include a mix of local residents, among them many Pepperdine University students and staff.

The group operated in a low key way to prevent the shelter’s misuse. The lack of attention would also discourage possible critics from saying the bus could attract problems to the Civic Center area location where the bus was parked during the winter.

During non-inclement times of the year, the bus was stored on the grounds of a nearby nursery, which is where it was when the Canyon Fire struck.

Christyn Garrett, a member of SOS, said that the group’s members, none of whom take a salary and operate on an as-needed basis, are concerned that they will not be able to set up another shelter before the start of the winter rainy season, if there is one.

She said the group has no backup funding. It only had liability insurance coverage on the bus, but as a 501c3 charity can accept tax-deductible donations.

Garrett said SOS made initial inquiries about the possibility of disaster assistance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and was told that it would not qualify.

However, Amanda Bicknell, a FEMA public affairs officer for the recent fires, said there are special public assistance programs for which the group might qualify. She said privacy constraints prevent discussing the specifics of a particular disaster situation, but she encouraged SOS to initiate an application.

Bicknell indicated that there will be a public assistance briefing in the Los Angeles area on Nov. 29 and said SOS can contact the City of Malibu to obtain more information about initiating paperwork for this specialized application process.

Bicknell said no “qualified” group that has been adversely impacted by the wildfires “is going to be left out in the cold,” but she acknowledged that a need for immediate short-term funding might require multiple approaches.

Concern about the current nighttime temperatures has prompted SOS to issue a call for community financial support to help provide an alternate shelter or assist in the obtaining of emergency quarters.

Garrett noted that the group organized in response to news reports that a homeless man had frozen to death during a winter rainstorm. She said, “We want to try to prevent that from ever happening to anyone out here.”

More information about the group is available at www.sosmalibu.org