Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
JULY 15, 2021
Subject
SUBJECT: UPDATE ON METRO’S HOMELESS OUTREACH EFFORTS
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE Update on Metro’s Homeless Outreach Efforts.
Issue
ISSUE
In spring 2016, Metro created the Metro Homeless Task Force to address displaced persons that have turned to Metro’s system and property for alternative shelter. Since then, Metro has made significant progress in addressing the homelessness issue by expanding its resources and partnering with community-based organizations.
Background
BACKGROUND
The homelessness crisis has significantly grown in the last couple of years. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) released the results of the 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which showed 66,436 people in Los Angeles County experiencing homelessness. This represents a 12.7% rise from last year’s Point-in-Time count of 58,936 homeless persons. The city of Los Angeles saw a 16.1% rise to 41,290 from last year’s point-in-time count of 36,300 homeless persons.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
P.A.T.H.
PATH outreach teams remain agile in using a crises deployment model to continue providing outreach and support to homeless persons. The outreach teams work hand in hand with law enforcement and work closely with the Departments of Health Services, Public Health, and Mental Health to provide services and housing. PATH teams collaborate on a daily basis with law enforcement in Operation “Shelter the Unsheltered,” as well as engage in system-wide outreach and encampment clean-ups identified as a safety concern within Metro’s system.
In June 2021, Metro and the Department of Health Services issued a third amendment in its Letter of Agreement for Multidisciplinary Street-Based Engagement Services. The term of this agreement began July 1, 2018 and remains in place through June 30, 2023. The parties, by mutual consent, extended the terms outlined in amendment number two to continue funding additional multidisciplinary outreach teams to provide field-based engagement/outreach services Monday through Sunday eight hours per day, throughout Metro’s system and properties. Amendment number three also extends the eighty (80) shelter bed pilot to August 31, 2021. The current shelter bed site is Home At Last, located in south Los Angeles. Full social services are available to people experiencing homelessness 24/7 with the goal of placing persons in interim and permanent housing through the Coordinated Entry System.
METRO TRANSIT HOMELESS ACTION PLAN 2.0 UPDATE
There are four (4) core components of the Action Plan to enhance the customer experience. The planned action is scheduled in these areas:
• Research component: Staff will re-convene internal and external stakeholder meetings beginning in August 2021.
• Education component: Staff is in discussion with the Communications department to create a fact sheet to educate Metro staff and passengers about homelessness on Metro’s system and properties. The fact sheet will contain background information on Metro’s Transit Homeless Action Plan 2.0; results from the homeless rail and bus counts; references to board reports, and contact numbers to report homelessness on and off of the system.
• Coordination component: Staff has scheduled a meeting on June 29, 2021, with the Department of Mental Health (DMH), and our law enforcement partners to discuss increasing the number of clinicians on our specialized law enforcement teams (HOPE, MET, QOL) through a Memorandum of Understanding to facilitate “Reimagining Policing” policies on Metro’s system and properties.
• Outreach component: Staff in conjunction with the Office of Customer Experience plans to implement pilot programs to support increased outreach and supportive services on the Metro’s system. The board approved Motion 26.2, which allocates $2 million for short term shelter for homeless riders; $5 million for enhanced homeless outreach teams and related mental health, addiction, nursing, and shelter services; $250,000 for regular counts to monitor trends and gauge the success of Metro efforts to address homelessness; and $3 million for pilot homelessness strategies to be recommended by the PSAC.
METRO BUS/RAIL ONE DAY HOMELESS COUNT
Homeless counts were planned to be conducted quarterly on our system, however, due to COVID restrictions, a count was not conducted in the second quarters of this year. Staff plans to execute the third quarter rail and bus homeless counts in August 2021. We are collaborating with the Customer Experience office to refine the survey instrument and the methodology. We are also collaborating with Information Technology Administration to explore setting up and maintaining a data publishing program.
OPERATION “SHELTER THE UNSHELTERED”
The Operation continues Monday through Friday at six Metro stations. Daily reports are submitted by law enforcement, Metro Transit Security, and our outreach partners: PATH, LA Door, and the Dream Center. The total number of individuals housed from April 2020 through June 11, 2021, is 836. June and July data will be provided in the September monthly board report.
*Level 1 (Contacts - Information is provided on resources/services; a name of the individual(s) is obtained.)
*Level 2 (Referrals - Individual(s) is receptive to services; appointments are made for services.)
*Level 3 (Housing Placements - Any mode of housing provided to the individual. (I.e., motel, VA housing)
OUTREACH PARTNERSHIPS
LA DOOR - Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office
The program is a recidivism reduction and drug diversion unit within the Los Angeles City Attorney’s office. LA DOOR outreach teams participate in Operation “Shelter the Unsheltered.” The outreach teams discontinued deploying to Union Station and 7 Street/Metro on June 1, 2021, due to the reallocation of their grant funding; however, the teams continue to outreach at MacArthur Park once per week. The total number of contacts by LA DOOR beginning July 8, 2020, through June 11, 2021, is 3,763.
The Dream Center - A Community-Based Organization within Angeles Temple
The Los Angeles faith-based organization continues to provide outreach services at Union Station Friday nights by providing end-of-the-line service and offering assistance to persons experiencing homelessness. The total number of contacts by the Dream Center beginning July 10, 2020, through June 11, 2021, is 1,511.
EQUITY PLATFORM
Metro’s Homeless Outreach efforts align with the Equity Platform by supporting more equitable outcomes for some of LA County’s most vulnerable and marginalized residents; people using Metro’s system for shelter. The Equity Platform provides a basis for Metro to advance equity in areas where we lead and partner. As described above, homeless continues to increase across the County and on the Metro system, disproportionately impacting Black people, older adults, those with disabilities, women with children, and transition-age youth. Metro’s efforts aim to balance the need to address the negative conditions and behaviors sometimes associated with homelessness with the need to help and treat people without shelter humanely.
Metro’s partnerships with social service providers and continued implementation of Operation “Shelter the Unsheltered” provide engagement efforts designed to build trust and make it more likely for people to accept services and shelter, and less likely to return to Metro’s system for shelter. Many of our success stories reveal that it took time for the homeless person to make the decision to accept services; our partners had to build a rapport through several contacts. Additionally, Metro’s homeless counts will help the agency and our partners allocate resources more efficiently, forecast future needs, and determine the need for additional programs or strategies to address homeless on the system. The Metro Transit Homeless Action Plan 2.0 will build upon and supplement these efforts.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
SSLE will continue to build upon its list of partners and services to provide resources to people experiencing homelessness on Metro’s system.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - PATH Homeless Outreach Update April 2021 - May 2021
Attachment B - PATH Motel Report April 2021 - May 2021
Attachment C - Law Enforcement Homeless Outreach Updates April 2021 - May 2021
Prepared_by
Prepared by Joyce Burrell Garcia, Project Manager, System Security and Law Enforcement, (213) 922-5551
Reviewed_by
Reviewed by: Judy Gerhardt, Chief System Security and Law Enforcement Officer, (213) 922-4811
