Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
APRIL 16, 2026
Subject
SUBJECT: HOME QUARTERLY REPORT
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE the HOME Quarterly Report.
Issue
ISSUE
Los Angeles County is experiencing a homelessness crisis, and the spillover results in many unhoused individuals seeking shelter on Metro’s rail and busway system. Since 2017, Metro has been funding, with operations eligible fund sources, local social service agencies to deploy multidisciplinary teams who engage and deliver resources and services to unhoused riders. In addition, Metro has partnered with local homeless shelters to provide beds for the outreach teams to utilize. This is a report on the status and outcomes of Metro’s homeless engagements for the second quarter of the fiscal year, October through December of 2025.
Background
BACKGROUND
Metro continues to fund multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) who perform outreach to people experiencing homelessness (PEH) on Metro’s rail and bus systems. Metro began contracting with eight MDTs through the LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) in 2017, expanding the number of contracted outreach services to 24 MDTs in 2024. The initial eight teams were employed by the community agency People Assisting the Homeless (PATH); Metro now has five additional community agencies that deploy MDTs: Christ Centered Ministries (CCM), HOPICS, LA Family Housing, Union Station Homeless Services, and Helpline Youth Counseling.
Metro has made notable progress in addressing homelessness on Metro’s rail and busway systems since 2017 through the expansion of MDT outreach, increased access to housing resources, and improved partnerships with City, County, and Community partners. Metro MDTs focus on engaging individuals and connecting them to housing and other services and are deployed across the entire rail and bus system seven days a week, with 24-hour coverage Monday through Friday. The six community agencies that deploy the 24 MDTs are based in different areas of LA County and are strategically assigned to segments of the Metro system located in their regions.
In addition to MDT outreach, Metro currently funds, using eligible operations fund sources, a total of 45 interim housing beds through LA County DHS. These beds, located in Central Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, are reserved for MDTs to directly refer the people they serve. Metro MDTs also have access to 25 beds through partnerships with the LA County Chief Executive Office Homeless Initiative (LA CEO-HI) and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency (LAHSA). Staff is currently coordinating with the City of Long Beach and Supervisorial District 4 to finalize the allocation of 10 beds for utilization by the Metro outreach teams to ensure resources remain available near the A Line Downtown Long Beach station.
Since 2023, Metro has increased the number of interim housing resources (i.e. beds) from 25 to the current total of 75. These beds provide occupants with access to a wide range of resources and programming that address a variety of client needs. All beds are required to provide 24-hour access, offering a vital resource to people experiencing homelessness during the late evening and early morning hours of Metro operation. Through key partnerships with external stakeholders, staff plan for the continued expansion of Metro-specific interim housing resources.
Since 2018, Metro MDTs have enrolled 27,443 individuals into the Homeless Management and Information System (HMIS), allowing them to gain access to homeless resources and services. The teams have successfully connected 7,388 people to interim housing and 1,855 people to permanent housing.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The following quarterly report provides an overview of the homeless response activities from October 2025 to December 2025.
Operational Capacity and Deployment
Of the 24 teams currently funded under the active DHS contract, 23 teams have been deployed. Overall, deployment is largely on target with ongoing recruitment for the remaining team. Across the homeless sector, programs are challenged with recruitment and retention. Metro MDT partners have experienced the same, leading to delays in being fully staffed. Despite not having all 24 teams deployed, agency partners have been successful in ensuring full coverage of the rail and busway system.
MDTs perform outreach on the rail and bus system seven days a week, with 24-hour coverage Monday through Friday. Outreach data is collected daily and analyzed to inform strategic deployment planning. Data analysis shows the highest levels of activity on the A, B, D, and E lines, which is where most teams are deployed using three strategic approaches: 1) co-deployment with Metro Ambassadors, Transit Security, and Law Enforcement partners at mutually agreed upon focus stations, 2) rover from station to station along designated lines within their respective deployment zones, and 3) nighttime deployment to End of Line stations Monday through Friday.
Impact
MDTs use a person-centered approach with the primary goal of connecting people to interim or permanent housing. The multidisciplinary nature of these teams allows them to support additional objectives to temporarily supply a variety of resources, from basic food, water, and clothing to substance use and mental health interventions.
During the second quarter of the fiscal year, the MDTs successfully enrolled 1,748 people into HMIS, with each enrollment representing a first-time connection to services and highlighting the program’s ability to reach individuals not previously engaged with the system. The HOME department sets an annual housing connection goal for the total number of individuals placed into either interim or permanent housing. Metro’s total housing placement goal for this fiscal year is 2,100, which represents a 17% increase over last year’s goal of 1,800 total placements. During this quarter, the MDTs enrolled 597 individuals into interim housing and connected 79 individuals to permanent housing. This totals 676 housing placements in quarter two, which is 129% of the Q2 goal.
Multidisciplinary outreach teams are a Countywide effort, led by the Department of Homelessness Services and Housing (HSH). Like Metro MDTs, their County colleagues are charged with connecting people to the HMIS system and have the ultimate goal of connecting people to housing solutions. To gauge effectiveness, HSH provides Metro with outcome comparisons between Metro MDTs and their counterparts. According to HSH data, the collective averages for Metro MDTs are consistently higher than County MDTs. Figure 2 in Attachment A shows comparison data from 2024, 2025, and the current fiscal year.
MDT staff have a variety of housing placement options for both interim and permanent housing. When making connections to housing, teams attempt to prioritize the needs and preferences of everyone they engage with, while balancing the types of housing resources available for referrals. Successful alignment of these factors can be challenging, but MDTs have made strong impacts toward their housing placement goal. So far, this fiscal year, 82% of non-permanent placements were traditional interim housing and recuperative care (58% interim housing & 24% recuperative care). For permanent placements, Metro MDTs have successfully reunited individuals with family or friends, accounting for 63% of placements. Figure 3 and Figure 4 in Attachment A show the breakdown of interim and permanent placements from July 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025.
As a result of sustained outreach efforts, Metro’s Point-in-Time count reflects a 39% systemwide reduction in the number of individuals experiencing homelessness over the past two years. Figure 1 in Attachment A shows the quarterly outcomes for the current fiscal year.
Metro engages with riders quarterly through the agency’s Pulse Surveys. Addressing homelessness often ranks among the lowest in customer satisfaction, yet it remains a top rider concern. Thanks to ongoing efforts, staff observed consistent improvements in rider satisfaction each quarter. Since 2024, overall satisfaction with Metro’s approach to homelessness has increased. Surveys from January 2026 indicate an 8% rise in customer satisfaction related to these efforts.
Metro participates in the regional Leadership Roundtable on Homelessness as part of its broader coordination with county and local partners addressing the homelessness crisis. The Roundtable is primarily focused on developing countywide goals and strategies for consideration by the Executive Committee on Regional Homelessness, with an emphasis on system-level alignment across jurisdictions.
End of Line (EOL) Outreach
HOME deploys swing-shift outreach teams who visit EOL hotspot stations (stations with higher numbers of PEH) between the hours of 6 pm and 3 am. During these deployments, the teams collect data on the number of PEH exiting the terminating trains, consistent with the data captured in the bi-annual EOL count & survey. Since this data is captured daily and is therefore more representative of EOL stations' activity, it is important to provide it here (and in subsequent reports) for comparison. Figure 5 in Attachment A shows the nightly average number (system nightly average across all EOL hotspot stations is 23) of PEH existing EOL hotspot stations from October 1, 2025, to December 31, 2025.
The HOME team has been engaging with EOL cities to establish partnerships to provide resources for people who shelter on Metro. For example, the city of Pomona provides after-hours beds for Metro MDTs to refer people to when they exit terminating trains. This partnership is essential, as most interim housing beds are unavailable from 7 pm to 7 am. Metro has also established end-of-line beds in North Hollywood, Long Beach, and Central LA (which outreach teams use for all end-of-line stations).
Looking Ahead
Metro MDTs have performed very well in Q1 and Q2, continuing a trend that has shown outcomes continually exceeding expectations year over year. Based on Metro’s Point-in-Time count results, the total number of people experiencing homelessness on the rail and busway system declined steadily, from a FY24 range of 1,041-1,092 to 631-684 in FY25. Staff counted again in January 2026 and await the results from LAHSA to determine if the downward trend continues. At the time of this report, the HOME team has received outcome data for the first part of Q3, which continues to look promising. People experiencing homelessness continue to receive housing resources and are enrolled in the HMIS system, helping them connect to safer, more permanent housing solutions.
Metro staff have participated in three San Gabriel Valley COG Committee meetings, particularly around the coordination of homeless outreach efforts at Metro stations within the region. Metro will continue to advance these discussions, with a focus on strengthening all regional partnerships and exploring dedicated housing and shelter resources, including beds specifically designated for Metro clients.
Equity_Platform
EQUITY PLATFORM
Metro’s efforts to address homelessness on the transit system through its homeless outreach program directly benefit unhoused individuals in LA County. Using a multi-layered deployment strategy that combines several departments, Metro strategically engages the most disenfranchised members of the community.
Teams are deployed across the entire rail and busway system, allowing them to outreach to regions with dense populations of people experiencing homelessness. By connecting 9,243 individuals to housing resources since 2018, Metro has improved equitable access to housing for many disenfranchised members of the community. Connecting people with housing resources, mental health services, and other essential interventions positively impacts the overall goal of reducing homelessness across Los Angeles and demonstrates Metro’s commitment to providing access to opportunities for disenfranchised populations.
Vehicle_Miles_Traveled_Outcome
VEHICLE MILES TRAVELED OUTCOME
VMT and VMT per capita in Los Angeles County are lower than national averages, the lowest in the SCAG region, and on the lower end of VMT per capita statewide, with these declining VMT trends due in part to Metro’s significant investment in rail and bus transit.* Metro’s Board-adopted VMT reduction targets align with California’s statewide climate goals, including achieving carbon neutrality by 2045. To ensure continued progress, all Board items are assessed for their potential impact on VMT.
As part of these ongoing efforts, this item is expected to contribute to further reductions in VMT. While this item does not directly encourage taking transit, sharing a ride, or using active transportation, it is a vital part of Metro operations, as it provides support for people who seek shelter on Metro. Because the Metro Board has adopted an agency-wide VMT Reduction Target, and this item supports the overall function of the agency, this item is consistent with the goals of reducing VMT.
*Based on population Estimates from the United States Census and VMT estimates from Caltrans’ Highway Performance Monitoring System (HPMS) data between 2001-2019.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Staff will continue to report quarterly on homeless outreach activity, outcomes and strategic initiatives that address the presence of people experiencing homelessness on Metro’s system.
Attachments
ATTACHMENT
Attachment A - Additional Data
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Craig Joyce, Senior Executive Officer, Special Programs, (213) 418-3008
Brittany Mullins, Senior Director, Homeless Outreach Management and Engagement, (213) 660-7879
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: William Scott, Chief of Police and Emergency Management, (213) 922-
5448
