Metro - File #: 2022-0049

• File #: 2022-0049
• Type: Motion / Motion Response
• Status: Passed
• File created: 1/21/2022
• In control: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• On agenda: 1/27/2022
• Final action: 1/27/2022
• Title: APPROVE Motion by Directors Solis, Hahn, Sandoval, and Garcetti that direct the CEO to: A. Immediately partner with the County to deploy the County's Multidisciplinary Homeless Outreach Teams (MDT) in collaboration with PATH, to conduct outreach to unhoused and high acuity individuals at the Cesar Chavez Transit Pavilion and throughout the Metro transit system. MDTs should work in partnership with additional County and City resources including but not limited to MET, MEU HOPE, HOST, PSAC, and DMH's Alternative Crisis Response teams including PMRT, LET, and HOME teams. B. Direct the CEO to immediately begin work with the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office and DMH to conduct an assessment of the crisis response deployment on our Metro system with recommendations on how to best deploy available resources; C. Delegate authority to the CEO, or her designee, to work with the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office and DMH to finalize the agreement pursuant to the Los Angeles C...
• Sponsors: Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting
• Indexes: De-escalation, Eric Garcetti, Hilda Solis, Homeless Outreach, Homeless persons, Housing, Janice Hahn, Law enforcement, Long Beach Police Department, Los Angeles Police Department, Los Angeles Sheriffs Department, Los Angeles Union Station, Metro Rail A Line, Motion / Motion Response, Outreach, Partnerships, Program, Safety, Safety and security, Tim Sandoval, Transit Homeless Action Plan, Transit safety, Transit System
• Related files: 2022-0109, 2022-0054

Date	Action By	Action	Result
1/27/2022	Board of Directors - Regular Board Meeting

Meeting_Body
REVISED
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
JANUARY 27, 2022

Preamble
Motion by:

DIRECTORS SOLIS, HAHN, SANDOVAL, AND GARCETTI

Providing Critical Mental Healthcare and Connections to Housing on Metro's Transit System Motion

Sandra Shells was an avid Metro rider and a dedicated public servant. As a 38-year veteran healthcare worker in the emergency room at the LAC-USC Medical Center, she was on the frontlines of the pandemic helping countless individuals get the healthcare they needed. On January 16, 2022, Ms. Shells tragically succumbed to injuries she sustained in an unwarranted and unprovoked attack that occurred while she was waiting for her bus at the Cesar Chavez Transit Pavilion near Union Station. She was on her way to work, during the Omicron surge, to provide lifesaving care to her patients like she had for 38 years, including nearly two years of the pandemic. Her loss is heartbreaking, and the violence she experienced is unacceptable and preventable.

No Metro passenger or employee should experience violence or even fear for their safety while using our transit system - but, too often, they do. In the case of Sandra Shells, her assailant was an unhoused individual with severe mental health needs, a demographic that is, unfortunately, all too common in Los Angeles County. As an agency dedicated to providing transit to all Angelenos, Metro also serves many of the 66,000-plus unhoused Angelenos, including those in need of mental healthcare.

Given the significant need to provide care and resources to unhoused individuals directly where they are located, the Department of Mental Health (DMH) offers multiple outreach services to provide on-site care. Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams (PMRT) consist of DMH clinicians who perform evaluations and provide services to individuals determined to be at risk of harming themselves or others or who are unable to provide food, clothing, or shelter as a result of a mental disorder. Law Enforcement Teams (L...