Hansen: Rethinking the approach to homeless

"The biggest issue that I think we have facing us with the homeless is affordable housing," Beu said. "In Laguna Beach, there is just no such thing as affordable housing. ... That can be done in the Verizon lot where the temporary ASL location is. That's the big goal of those of us who are housing advocates."

Price and others are working with the city to discuss long-term options for the site, but the plans are preliminary.

In the meantime, Beu and other church leaders sometimes struggle to manage the current workload. For example, nearly every dinner provided at the shelter comes from church volunteers, who rotate the duty.

"These churches are doing just a tremendous job for us," Price said. "This year alone, they've provided already over 20,000 meals. They will continue to do that every night. We've never missed a night. That's something faith communities do very well. They see a need and they see a practical way to meet that need, and they stick with it."

For Doss, who spent his early years in the Peace Corps in West Africa, the local delivery of food is critical, but he wonders why it is so difficult globally.

"There is plenty of food in the world; there always has been plenty of food in the world," he said. "The question of hunger is more a political one and a question of getting resources to the people who need it. The idea that people would go hungry in the United States is insane. But the political mechanics of how we get there is something that I'm not sure of.

"The fact that we're actually feeding far more people at the shelter than are actually sleeping there is a tremendous step in the right direction."

Beu believes Laguna Beach is uniquely positioned to solve its own problems, but it will continue to take concerted effort, and perhaps a shift in our social expectations.

"We live in a bubble in Laguna Beach," he said. "The air we breathe is very rarefied. And one of the things that frustrates me at times is someone will say, 'Well, we're going to go work with the homeless in Santa Ana,' and it's like, why are you going to go to Santa Ana when we have people here?"

Doss also believes that the turning point for citizens comes when they "think beyond themselves and understand that these people around them — either here in town or in the wider world — are human beings, are worthy of a full belly, and that sometimes we need to make some sacrifice in our own lives to help those who are in need."