Beginning this Monday (Aug. 19), the Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative is hosting community listening sessions to gather feedback and strengthen strategies for addressing and preventing homelessness.
We highly encourage our riders and stakeholders to listen and participate! Please see the flyers above for times and dates of the sessions, links to the meetings and how to attend either virtually or in-person.
The map at right shows the county’s Service Planning Areas (SPA) if you want to know which one where you reside, work or visit.
Feedback from the community will help the county shape funding recommendations for homeless services and housing in the upcoming 2025-26 fiscal year.
Your input is crucial in conveying how homelessness is impacting both the Metro system and the broader community that we serve. In particular, here are a few points we’d like everyone to consider:
•Homelessness on Metro: Many people experiencing homelessness are seeking shelter on Metro buses, trains and stations. That impacts the condition of our system, poses safety challenges and affects customers using the system for its intended purpose, which is getting around town.
•Public Perception: although everyone has the right to use our system, the reality is that the presence of so many people sheltering on our system is deterring people from using our buses and trains.
•Need for Housing Resources: We would like to see L.A. County and other local cities across our region increase shelters and affordable housing to give the unhoused somewhere to live besides the streets.
•On-Site Services: We would like to see L.A. County provide more homeless services, mental health services and substance abuse services directly on the Metro system — in particular at end-of-line rail stations where unhoused riders often enter or exit our system.
The listening sessions are designed to gather input from various stakeholders — and everyone is welcome to join. Sessions will primarily be held virtually via Zoom, with one in-person session for Spanish speakers.
Categories: Transportation News
The public perception is Metro does not control their platform and allows anybody to ride their system. Control is directly related to safety. Hearing directors complain about Metro’s safety is a perception problem is completely wrong approach to fixing Metro. The public is right about Metro lack of control and don’t suffer a perception problem. They see disturbances caused by non-paying riders on the system everyday.
Until control is established and only paying customers ride the system, then Metro is just offering lip-service to the problem and not actually solving anything.
The MTA has two closed former bus divisions, one of the largest, Division 10 on Mission Rd. and Division 6 in Venice that could be used to house the homeless both inside the buildings and temporary housing units in their vast bus parking lots. Other places that come to mind are Los Angeles City & County empty buildings and vacant land just in Downtown Los Angeles. There is alot of talk but no action. Inside we see a huge government bureaucracy costing millions in taxpayer monies and lots of endless studies to justify their jobs. And its very interesting the homeless are bared from wealthy areas by Ordinance. For instance there are not only signs up adjacent to Cedars-Sianai Hospital prohibiting tents and motor homes but those signs extend for blocks to the Beverly Hills border. Money talks, and its apparent the politicians not only listen but asted swiftly when the first homesteader arrived. This ordinance should be city wide and each city should follow suit.
With the decuision of the Federal Court concerning homelessness I’m sure tjhe MTA and other bus agencies can follow suite and ban homelessness camping on the buses and those who are offensive banned from stepping foot on public transit.
Harsh, yes? And then the next step is to provide the needed services these people need be financial or mental health. When everyone, be it the general public and the homeles population relies the “PARTY is OVER” and the behavior will no longer be tolerated everyones life will improve.
“everyone has the right to use our system”. Aren’t they supposed to pay their fare? My guess is that most of the homeless on Metro aren’t doing so. Those of us who do pay resent being stuck on a rolling mental ward with disruptive people who haven’t. Metro isn’t helping anyone by letting this problem persist. It’s not compassionate to mentally ill people.
The Homeless industrial complex will allow the Homeless problem to be corrected.