The number of calls made to Redondo Beach police about the homeless increased by 400 percent over the last four years.

Officers are fielding nearly 12,000 calls annually — ranging from crimes in progress to dire need for medical care.

Responding to those calls has cost the city nearly $700,000 for police department time and $320,000 for fire since 2010 and continues to escalate, according Interim Police Chief John Neu.

“When you see that type of increase, you have to ask yourself, what are we doing wrong?” Neu said. “Why are these numbers continuing to increase?”

It’s clear Redondo Beach has a homeless problem, but what’s not is how to tackle it.

“We cannot arrest our way out of this problem,” Neu said. “It’s a turnstile, not a revolving door. We have to be able to get the help that’s needed through the resources we have.”

A presentation of recommendations from the city’s inaugural Homeless Task Force Tuesday night, developed over the last several months, seemed to provide more questions than answers, as the city takes its first stab at addressing the homeless population.

Because Redondo Beach provides the most meal and support services in the area, it has now attracted one of the higher concentrations of homeless in the South Bay. If the city continues to provide that level of service, it can expect the numbers to continue to rise, staff said.

“We want to be careful not to offer more services and become a magnet,” said City Manager Joe Hoefgen.

But, in a Catch-22, the city must provide certain services to get those living on its streets into housing.

A high number of churches and other faith-based organizations in the area provide meals, groceries, hygiene items, blankets, medical services and other support. City staff said the organizations may need to make some adjustments.

“Are they creating more issues than really helping?” Hoefgen said. “Rather than just feeding the individuals, we need to make sure we’re not making the problem worse.”

Council members appeared shocked Tuesday night at some of the transient population numbers staff presented.

According to preliminary stats from the Greater Homeless Count conducted countywide in January, the number of single homeless adults observed in Redondo Beach increased by nearly 300 percent over the last two years.

Fifteen people were counted in 2013, and 54 were counted just two years later. The count identified 12 tents this year, compared to zero in 2013.

Including all factors, such as those who live in cars, the total number of transients identified in 2015 was around 120, up from 70 in 2013, according to early numbers. Official Homeless Count results will be available later this year.

The city’s police department conducted its own survey of nearly 200 homeless in town over 10 months in 2012 and 2013, using an in-house questionnaire. It found 63 percent abuse alcohol and two-thirds have a criminal past.

“We’re throwing bait out right now. We’re attracting them,” said Mayor Steve Aspel. “And 67 percent of them have misdemeanors or felonies. That’s the really disturbing thing.”

Aspel said the city doesn’t want to boot the homeless out of town, but meanwhile council members and staff continue to receive complaints about homeless-related issues in their neighborhoods, especially around the churches that feed them.

“We’ve got to come up with a solution. We can’t keep growing the population,” Aspel said.

The homeless crisis is palpable on streets, freeway on-ramps and parks across the South Bay. Homelessness increased by 39 percent in the entire South Bay, including San Pedro, over the last two years. And countywide, cities have struggled to find solutions, although the focus remains “housing first.”

The Redondo Beach task force, made up of 10 residents from the various districts, came up with a number of recommendations for the city, including:

• Facilitate a “summit” of local service providers to discuss ways to collaborate

• Become a member of the South Bay Coalition for the Homeless

• Initiate a community education program on ways to assist the homeless through volunteering or providing contributions

• Work toward a regional approach if county funding is available

• Implement a more robust system of case management

• Require that service providers funded by Community Block Development Grants agree to train volunteers to perform interviews and assessments of the homeless

The task force suggested focusing on a coordinated entry system — meeting the homeless in the street, assessing their needs and why they’re homeless and connecting them with the appropriate services. The county will soon roll out its own coordinated entry system.

“What we learned was that feeding the homeless is maybe the worst thing we could do,” said task force member and District 1 resident Lori Geittmann. “We’re not really helping them get beyond where they are. They really need services. I hope that the people who do feed the homeless get together with social workers and medical professionals who can deal with the problem.”

Of course, the ultimate solution is finding housing for the transients, but council members wondered if that is simply a pipe dream.

“Housing is the real issue. We have a five- to 10-year waiting list for Section 8 housing,” said Councilwoman Laura Emdee. “The majority of our homeless are not there voluntarily. They’re just down on their luck and can’t get housing. But I haven’t seen anything in the report to address that. It’s just going to grow exponentially.”

Hoefgen noted that funding for Section 8 housing is “under siege,” and the waiting list has been closed for a number of years. There are only 540 units of low-income housing for the entire city of Redondo Beach, he said. Additionally, the housing required for most of the homeless must be permanent supportive housing, not just an apartment, because they require medical, psychiatric and other services, he said.

“As much as we’d love to find a silver bullet or simple solution, it’s going to be lots of little steps,” Hoefgen said.