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File #: 2025-0219   
Type: Informational Report Status: Agenda Ready
File created: 3/17/2025 In control: Executive Management Committee
On agenda: 5/15/2025 Final action:
Title: RECEIVE AND FILE the HOME Quarterly Report.
Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
Indexes: Access Services Inc., Barriers (Roads), Gateway Cities (Southeast LA County) Service Sector, Gateway Cities subregion, Homeless Outreach, Homeless persons, Housing, Information management, Informational Report, Law enforcement, Long Beach, Mean Down Time, Outreach, Partnerships, Privacy, Surveys
Attachments: 1. Presentation
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Meeting_Body

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE

MAY 15, 2025

 

Subject

SUBJECT:                     HOME QUARTERLY REPORT

 

Action

ACTION:                     RECEIVE AND FILE

 

Heading

RECOMMENDATION

 

Title

RECEIVE AND FILE the HOME Quarterly Report.

 

Issue

ISSUE

 

Los Angeles is experiencing a homelessness crisis, and many unhoused individuals seek shelter on Metro’s rail and busway system. Since 2017, Metro has been funding 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 quarter January-March 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 eight MDTs through the LA County Department of Health Services (DHS) in 2017, expanding contracted outreach services to the current operating total of 24 MDTs. The initial eight teams were employed by the community agency People Assisting the Homeless (PATH); Metro now has five additional community agencies who 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 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). Most recently, the LA CEO-HI agreed to fund an additional ten bed, six month pilot program in Long Beach that will sunset on June 30th.

 

Since 2023, Metro has increased the number of interim housing resources from 25 to the current total of 80. 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 the key partnerships between Metro and external stakeholders, staff plan for continued expansion of Metro-specific interim housing resources.

 

Since 2018, Metro MDTs have enrolled more than 21,000 individuals into the Homeless Management and Information System (HMIS), allowing them to gain access to homeless resources and services. The teams have successfully connected more than 5,000 people to interim housing and more than 1,500 people to permanent housing.

 

Discussion

DISCUSSION

 

The following quarterly report provides an overview of the homeless response activities from January to March 2025 and the outcomes year to date.

 

Operational Capacity and Deployment

Of the 24 teams currently funded under the active DHS contract 23 teams have been deployed, with the remaining team in the recruitment process. 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. Contracted agencies do not currently have the ability to provide swing shift coverage on weekends.  Staff continues to explore opportunities to supplement weekend and nighttime coverage.

 

Impact

MDTs use a person-centered approach when performing outreach on the Metro system, focusing on building rapport and trust to meet individuals’ needs. The primary goal is to connect people to interim or permanent housing. The multidisciplinary nature of these teams allows them to provide individuals with a variety of resources, from basic food, water, and clothing to substance use and mental health interventions.

 

During this quarter, the MDTs successfully enrolled 1,861 people into the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS). The total number of individuals enrolled into HMIS during the current fiscal year is 5,015.

 

The HOME department sets an annual housing connection goal, which includes the total number of individuals placed into either interim or permanent housing. Metro’s total housing placement goal for this fiscal year is 1,800, which represents an 86% increase over last year’s goal of 966 total placements. During this quarter, the MDTs enrolled 617 individuals into interim housing and connected 93 individuals to permanent housing. This amounts to a total of 710 housing placements in quarter three. The MDTs have connected 2,104 individuals to housing resources this fiscal year, representing 117% of the annual goal. Figure 1 below shows the quarterly outcomes for the current fiscal year.

 

Figure 1: Metro MDT Fiscal Year Quarterly Outcomes

 

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, 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. For the current fiscal year, 76% of non-permanent placements were traditional interim housing and crisis housing. For permanent placements, Metro MDTs have successfully reunited individuals with either their family or friends, which collectively account for 58% of the total placements. Figure 2 and Figure 3 below show the breakdown of interim and permanent placements from July 1 through March 2025.

 

 

 

 

Figure 2: Dispersion of Interim Housing Placements

 

 

 

Figure 3: Dispersion of Permanent Housing Placements

 

End of Line Outreach

Various communities have expressed concerns regarding unhoused riders exiting trains at end of line (EOL) stations located in their neighborhoods. In response to these concerns, the Board requested an EOL assessment be conducted. Beginning in September 2023, a bi-annual count & survey began and continues to take place each March and September. On a single night between the hours of 11:30pm to 2am, 30 volunteers consisting of Metro homeless outreach teams, Metro Staff and County partners deploy to all 11 EOL stations where trains terminate service for nightly maintenance. Each of the 11 stations deboard between two and three trains after 11:30pm, and passengers are asked to exit the trains and the stations as rail service concludes. Volunteers conduct counts and surveys of unhoused passengers as they vacate, offering gift cards for survey participation. Security and law enforcement partners direct passengers toward surveyors during deboarding to promote engagement and accurate counts.

 

Five separate counts & surveys have taken place since September 2023. Over the course of these five events, the average total number of PEH counted is 215, with two occasions having a 24% decrease (September 2024) and a 41% increase (March 2025).

 

Figure 4: Total number of PEH observed during the last four EOL counts

 

Due to several stations having abnormally large increases during the March 2025 operation, staff determined it was necessary to perform a recount in April. One suggestion for the increase was that a new cohort of people were experiencing homelessness due to the January wildfires and were seeking shelter on Metro’s system. Staff also received feedback from a rail operator who encountered an individual who stated they began experiencing homelessness due to the fires. To explore this further, a survey question was added in April to capture whether the wildfires were indeed the cause of a person’s homelessness. Survey results showed that 22% of the 197 people surveyed confirmed that the wildfires were the cause of their homelessness (see Figure 5 below). Staff will perform another count & survey in May that will include additional questions to expand on causes for homelessness to gain a more comprehensive understanding.

 

Figure 5: Station locations and total number of people impacted by January Fires

 

 

Figure 6 below shows the results of the five observational counts and offers a comparison of all 11 EOL stations over time. Of the eleven EOL stations, five had significant increases in PEH counted during the March 2025 count (APU/Citrus, Downtown Long Beach, Downtown Santa Monica, North Hollywood, and Wilshire/Western) compared to the previous count in September 2024.

Figure 6: Observational counts of people experiencing homelessness at EOL stations

 

Throughout the five counts, surveys have been conducted to learn more about people who ride to the EOL stations when trains go out of service. By incentivizing participants with a $25 gift card, teams have obtained a 47% survey participation rate. Figure 7 shows the combined results of the survey data collected by volunteers.

 

The combined survey data provides a few insights into behaviors of unhoused riders who exit trains at the end of service. Of those surveyed, more than half reported becoming unhoused in the past one to four years. 70% of respondents indicated they use Metro for shelter, with 76% reboarding when service resumes in the morning. More than half of the respondents reported exiting to an outdoor location after deboarding; however, when asked if they would accept services such as shelter, food, clothing, etc., almost all respondents replied in the affirmative. This speaks to the need for more services to be available during the late evening and early morning hours.

 

In addition to the bi-annual count & survey, HOME deploys swing shift outreach teams who visit EOL hotspot stations (stations with higher numbers of PEH) between the hours of 6pm and 3am. During these deployments the teams collect data on the number of PEH exiting the last three trains, which is consistent with the data captured in the bi-annual EOL count & survey. Since this data is captured daily and therefore is more representative of unhoused riders exiting at EOL stations, it is important to provide it here (and in subsequent reports) for comparison. Figure 8 shows the average number of PEH exiting EOL hotspot stations for the current fiscal year, July 1, 2024, through March 30, 2025.

 

 

Figure 8: Current FY observational counts from daily outreach at EOL Hotspot stations

 

A Note on Service Resistance

MDTs are actively outreaching across the rail and bus system seven days a week, with 24-hour coverage Monday through Friday. Despite their years of field experience and acute understanding of the population they serve, our partners continue to engage people who decline services or enrollment into programs. The term “service resistant” implies that people experiencing homelessness would rather remain in the streets than pursue shelter or permanent housing options, but the feedback received from a recent poll challenges this assumption.

 

Staff asked the six agencies who perform outreach on Metro’s system to ask for the reasons why people might decline services, and to also provide their own first-hand experience with their offers of service being declined. The eight responses collected provide important insight into their perspective and their thoughts about homeless services:

 

Participant Responses:

1.                     People had only negative experiences w/ services or providers of services

2.                     Proximity of available services outside of the person’s community

3.                     Overly strict rules or structural requirements to access services

4.                     Opposition to congregate settings, limitations on pets, or unable to cohabitate w/ partner/family, lack of privacy

5.                     Traumatic experiences

6.                     Overwhelming paperwork required for permanent housing, with lengthy placement times

Outreach Staff Responses:

7.                     Active drug use, preventing meaningful engagement

8.                     Actively experiencing mental illness, preventing meaningful engagement

 

All six agencies reported answers 1, 2, and 3 as the most common. The results highlight barriers to access and an inability for services to meet the unique needs of individuals. However, it is important to note that the types of shelter that MDTs have to offer are not always rejected; options such as hotels and motels are widely accepted due to their privacy and non-congregate nature. Additionally, Metro MDTs have been successfully placing individuals into interim and permanent housing year after year, demonstrating that many people’s needs are being met with the resources teams have to offer. When selecting partnerships with interim housing providers, Metro focuses on locations and programs that practice low-barrier entry with a focus on safety, autonomy, and privacy.

 

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. The homeless population in Los Angeles is disproportionately represented by Black and Latino individuals - an effect of historically exclusionary racist policies that impact access to affordable housing.

 

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 people with housing resources, mental health services, and other important interventions, the MDTs not only positively impact the overall goal of reducing homelessness across Los Angeles but also demonstrate Metro’s investment in 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.

 

Prepared_by

Prepared by: Craig Joyce, Deputy Executive Officer Homeless Outreach & Strategic Initiatives, (213) 418-3008

 

Reviewed_By

Reviewed by: Nicole Englund, Chief of Staff, (213) 922-7950