CHAPTER 4

Case Studies

Nine case studies were conducted to learn about what transit agencies are doing in response to homelessness, how their programs are working, and what was integral to the successful implementation and long-term sustainability of the program. Table 6 provides an overview of the case study locations, including the service area population, annual unlinked passenger trips, and PIT homeless count for the closest comparable location. Interviews were conducted by telephone, emails, and Zoom with transit agency staff, sometimes with multiple jurisdictions in one place, and, when available, staff from CoC organizations and homeless service providers. The case studies provide an overview of current strategies to improve transit agency interaction with people experiencing homelessness. In addition, insights and information sharing from the National Transit & Vulnerable Populations Workgroup, an informal group of transit agencies that meet monthly on the topics of homelessness and public safety, are included in this chapter. The case studies provide additional details on challenges, solutions, partnerships, and lessons learned by transit agencies responding to homelessness.

More detailed case information and materials are interwoven into the report. To protect confidentiality, quotations throughout the report are identified based on the geographic location or transit agency of interviewees. The term “homelessness specialist” is used to refer to staff members from CoCs and other homelessness service providers.

4.1 Transit Agency Case Selection and Research Methods

The transit agencies for case studies were selected based on information gathered from the literature review and the environmental scan of transit agency activities. The main criteria for selecting the case studies were (1) location (geographic and demographic), (2) size of transit agency and type of transit service, (3) reported impacts of homelessness on the transit system, and (4) programs and activities regarding people experiencing homelessness. The case study locations were picked to cover geographically diverse transit agencies and homelessness partnering organizations that provide important information and diverse insights regarding responses to homelessness that may be applicable to other transit agencies in the United States.

The interviews for the case studies were conducted with transit agency staff as well as local partner agencies, service providers, and advocates engaged with people experiencing homelessness. A staff member from the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness was also interviewed about various transit agency approaches across the country. As part of the case study research, 40 people were interviewed or participated in a focus group. A mix of transit agency staff were interviewed, including:

• Customer relations/engagement staff,
• Enforcement staff,

Table 6. Transit agency case study locations.

1. Loukaitou-Sideris et al. 2020 survey respondent

2. TCRP Synthesis 121 (Boyle 2016) case example

3. TCRP Synthesis 121 (Boyle 2016) survey respondent

*FTA (n.d.) (2019)

**U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (2020a)

• Interagency policy staff,
• Operations personnel, and
• Program point person/response point person.

During the transit agency interviews, questions were asked about strategies for working with people experiencing homelessness, programs and policies for addressing the impacts of homelessness, relationships with partner organizations, lessons learned that may benefit other transit

agencies, and information and resources needed to better achieve goals in serving housed and unhoused transit system users. Additional information was collected by researching:

• Customer and employee surveys,
• Homelessness program documentation from transit agencies, and
• Newspaper articles and other relevant sources.

During the interviews with the homeless service providers and advocates, questions were asked about their experiences working with the transit agency (formally or informally), what they wish transit agency staff knew about homelessness, and how they believe transit agencies could respond differently to homelessness (if relevant). Particular attention was paid to understanding, from the homelessness service providers’ point of view, how transit agencies can support people experiencing homelessness, coordinate service provision, cultivate partnerships, and advance activities to prevent homelessness.

Homeless service providers and advocates were also asked to share the perspectives they have heard from their clients. While asking for housed people to speak for unhoused people can be problematic, several homeless service providers and advocates who were interviewed had experienced homelessness or deep housing insecurity.

4.2 Case Summaries

4.2.1 Atlanta, GA: MARTA

MARTA is the regional public transportation operator in the Atlanta metropolitan area and has a service population of 2.1 million people with approximately 57 million annual unlinked trips in 2022. On a given night in 2022, there were approximately 2,000 people experiencing homelessness the City of Atlanta (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2022b). According to the HUD 2020 CoC report, approximately 1,845 people experiencing homelessness in Atlanta reported having a severe mental illness, and 1,831 reported having chronic substance abuse disorder (recognizing that a portion of these individuals could suffer from both conditions) (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2020a).

MARTA reported three issues related to people who are experiencing homelessness on its system.

• First, unsuccessful interactions with people experiencing homelessness remain a persistent problem—particularly interactions with unsheltered individuals who refuse to accept help to access resources and services.
• Next, there are continued effects on riders. There were complaints from transit customers about people sleeping on trains, in rail stations and bus shelters, and on other MARTA property. MARTA reported that many complaints were prompted by individuals exhibiting improper behavior or violating the agency’s code of conduct.
• Finally, MARTA reported an influx of unsheltered people who have taken refuge on its system and often consider it a relatively safe haven compared to conventional shelter environments or staying on the streets.

MARTA implemented new practices for interacting with unsheltered populations. Most notably, MARTA launched a pilot program, partnered with HOPE Atlanta (a homeless service provider), called MARTA HOPE (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Engagement) 2020 (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority n.d.a). This program, which is intended to improve unsheltered individuals’ access to resources and services, focuses on direct individual-level engagement and outreach with people experiencing homelessness and uses humane interactions (i.e., treating everyone with dignity, respect, empathy, and most importantly, as a human being).

MARTA reported that organizational engagement consists of high-level discussions and coordinated efforts with other local and regional community organizations that share a similar focus to help the region’s unsheltered populations. MARTA invested in cross-training its outreach, customer service, and some operational staff in cultural awareness and de-escalation skills. Prior to launching MARTA HOPE, the transit agency also established the Transportation Assistance Program for the Homeless for qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit agencies and government entities serving homeless clients to purchase half-price fare media for trips such as for medical appointments, job interviews, and social service visits (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority n.d.b).

4.2.2 Cleveland, OH: GCRTA

Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority (GCRTA) is the public transit agency for the Cleveland, Ohio, metropolitan area. It operates an extensive bus system and a rapid rail service, which consists of one heavy-rail line and three light-rail lines. The service area population is about 1.4 million, and the agency had 19.1 million unlinked passenger trips in 2022. On a given night in 2022, there were over 1,500 people experiencing homelessness in Cuyahoga County; 84 of them were unsheltered (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2022b).

GCRTA has worked with Cuyahoga County’s Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS); FrontLine Service; and the Northeast Ohio Coalition for the Homeless to develop its response to homelessness. In 2021, ADAMHS began crisis intervention team (CIT) training for GCRTA staff. The goal of the training is to equip transit police officers with skills to navigate interactions with people experiencing homelessness, mental health crises, or substance use disorder crises. In September 2022, GCRTA initiated an ambassador program designed to decrease the presence of armed law enforcement on its system while providing identifiable personnel to assist customers with mobility and navigation issues and simultaneously discourage disruptive behavior. The program includes four crisis interventionist specialists and 10 ambassadors.

Transit police together with bus and rail operators identified the transit stations with the highest volume of people experiencing homelessness and the approximate times of their presence on the system. GCRTA notifies one of the local homeless services organizations, which sends outreach workers to transit stations to offer needed services and assist the unhoused individuals in accessing shelter and services. In addition, GCRTA works with ADAMHS to provide connections to the Cleveland Diversion Center, a regional center that provides help to individuals who are exhibiting signs and symptoms of mental illness or addiction. The diversion center can shelter up to 50 people and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

4.2.3 Eugene, OR: LTD

Lane Transit District (LTD) is the public transit agency in the Eugene and Springfield, Oregon, metropolitan areas and Lane County. The service area population is approximately 317,000, and the agency had about 5.6 million unlinked passenger trips in 2022. In 2022, over 2,300 people experiencing homelessness called Lane County home, and 70% of the people experiencing homelessness were unsheltered. In 2020, a significant impact from homelessness had been people experiencing unsheltered homelessness using transit agency assets as a sleeping area. The city of Eugene moved fairly quickly to organize a large homeless camp that centralized the ability to provide services and has since opened additional safe rest sites, which has reduced the impact on the transit system.

LTD has worked with partners to support innovative programs to respond to homelessness. LTD has developed a partnership with Crisis Assistance Helping out on the Streets (CAHOOTS). CAHOOTS is a 24/7 mobile crisis dispatch team consisting of a medic [i.e., either a nurse or an

emergency medical technician (EMT)] and a crisis worker who has several years’ experience in the mental health field. The team provides medical or psychological crisis attention and assessment information, referrals, and advocacy. LTD calls on CAHOOTS in situations that require attention but do not require police involvement. LTD also partners directly with White Bird Clinic for homeless case management services. LTD views these partnerships as a very successful effort and has strengthened its relationships with local agencies and organizations.

Most recently, the city of Eugene authorized funding to develop safe rest or sleep sites for people experiencing homelessness. LTD partnered with the city of Eugene to evaluate and map out potential transit-owned vacant land to use as safe sleep areas. The transit agency inspected several properties to meet criteria in terms of the appropriateness of a site and viability of the land and public space. LTD leases one site to the City of Eugene at no cost for 2 to 5 years. The site is managed by the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Lane County.

The safe sleep sites provide a safe and legal place for people experiencing homelessness to sleep and are managed by social service providers. These providers serve as a point of contact and conduct outreach services to homeless populations. The dedicated funding for safe sleep sites helped build support with neighboring stakeholders and engaged the community to look for solutions to help people experiencing homelessness. LTD noted that its collaborative partnership with local leaders and social service organizations has been essential in planning and funding to help meet the unsheltered population’s needs. In the case of microsites for safe sleeping, LTD has observed a sizable decrease in people sleeping in transit spaces and systems.

4.2.4 Honolulu, HI: HART

The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) operates a new, driverless, urban light-rail metro system along Oahu’s south shore. The first segment opened the summer of 2023. When complete, it is estimated that the system will serve approximately 120,000 daily riders and facilitate transfers from “TheBus.” TheBus is the public bus transportation service on the island of Oahu and is privately managed by the nonprofit Oahu Transit Services under a public–private partnership with the City and County of Honolulu Department of Transportation Services. In 2022, TheBus had approximately 38.1 million unlinked passenger trips for a service area population of approximately 950,000. On a given night in 2022, there were approximately 3,945 people experiencing homelessness in the City and County of Honolulu, which includes about 2,300 who are unsheltered (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development 2022b).

HART reported that the extent of people experiencing homelessness in Honolulu is a major challenge since homeless encampments are set up in areas such as rights-of-way, highways, bus stops, underneath infrastructures, and at the HART construction site. These encampments make it difficult to complete construction and also create potential safety and health risks to unsheltered individuals. HART believes that people experiencing homelessness lack trust in state and local agencies since unsheltered populations often turn down services and shelter offered from service providers. Oahu Transit Services also struggles with people using bus stops and shelters for sleeping, which has created safety concerns for other riders. There are about 3,800 bus stops on Oahu, and there is no city ordinance that makes it illegal to sleep at them.

Oahu has an island-wide coordination effort to address chronic homelessness. City and county initiatives and policy efforts include partnerships across local and state agency levels, including HART and the Department of Transportation Services. The Department of Human Services has partnered with the local police department to launch Homeless Outreach and Navigation to Unsheltered Persons (HONU). This program was implemented to divert citations and arrests and provide free transportation for individuals as part of the HONU short-term shelter service. Recently, the City of Honolulu launched the Crisis, Outreach, Response, and Engagement program

(CORE), which aims to replace Honolulu Police Department and Emergency Medical Service personnel responding to nonviolent, homeless-related emergency calls with social workers, EMTs, and community health workers instead (Ordonio 2022).

4.2.5 Philadelphia, PA: SEPTA

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is the sixth-largest transit agency in the United States and serves 2,200 square miles and the five counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia. SEPTA is a multimodal transportation system and operates bus, rapid transit, commuter-rail, light-rail, and electric trolley services. The service area population is approximately 3.5 million, and the system had annual unlinked passenger trips of 153.8 million in 2022. In the city of Philadelphia, there are approximately 4,500 homeless individuals, which includes about 780 who are unsheltered. Like many cities, Philadelphia has seen an increase in people experiencing homelessness over the last couple years. SEPTA has also experienced a decrease in ridership, an increase in concerns for safety by riders, and an increase in the number of vulnerable people using its trains and stations for shelter.

SEPTA has been an active partner with local and regional homeless service providers in addressing homelessness. SEPTA, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Homeless Services, the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual Disabilities, and the Philadelphia Police Department work together to coordinate homeless outreach, services, and enforcement (City of Philadelphia n.d.). SEPTA has adopted one of the most comprehensive approaches to address the needs, issues, and impacts of homelessness. In 2018, SEPTA partnered with Project HOME and the City of Philadelphia to construct a homeless engagement center, the Hub of Hope, on city property adjacent to transit. Operated by Project Home and funded by partners including the City of Philadelphia, the Hub of Hope is an 11,000-square-foot facility that operates year-round to provide case management and health services, including dental care, a pharmacy, and medical and behavioral health care. Each day, 350 to 400 people find comfort, care, and dignity through the showers, laundry, food, and health services available at the Hub of Hope. Referrals from SEPTA’s outreach workers and transit police are made to the Hub of Hope on a daily basis.

The Hub of Hope plays a critical role as a warming center and serves as a link to begin the process of finding permanent homes for individuals. SEPTA played a key role in the initial development of the project and has assisted with previous fundraising efforts. In 2019, transit police began working with a mental health professional to engage with the resident population in/around stations, and this evolved into the SAVE (Serving a Vulnerable Entity Unit) co-responder program. These co-responder teams create a presence of safety for customers and employees while leading the vulnerable community away from the SEPTA system and into needed services.

More recently, SEPTA has begun addressing homelessness holistically by employing a five-pronged approach—the Safety, Cleaning, Ownership, Partnership, and Engagement (SCOPE) initiative (https://www5.septa.org/safety/scope/). The SCOPE initiative was developed to help address the downstream challenges faced by vulnerable populations, including the lack of affordable housing and current public health crises, as well as the issues posed to the transit system. SEPTA established an internal task force to align resources and accountability for implementation of the SCOPE plan and to build buy-in across the agency. The task force meets biweekly to provide updates and to respond to internal opportunities and make decisions in real time. Through the SCOPE program, SEPTA has retained approximately 50 social workers and outreach specialists who are employed by the transit agency to provide services at specific locations, including seven transit stations. The 2021 budget for these services was $3.6 million. The outreach workers respond to requests from SEPTA police officers, elevator attendants, station cashiers, and maintenance and custodial employees to assist individuals experiencing

homelessness, addiction, and mental illness. In 2021, SEPTA created the health navigator program, a public–private partnership with Drexel School of Medicine that assigned 15 first-year medical students at a static location for 6 months to engage with and connect the vulnerable population to services. Now in its third year, the health navigator program has also expanded to Cabrini University health and sciences students.

Annually, SEPTA conduct its own PIT count to understand the size of the homeless population and where the hotspots are located. In addition, SEPTA also plans to allocate $14.8 million in the 2023 fiscal year budget for maintenance custodians (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority n.d.). In 2023, a dedicated outreach services department was created to centralize and manage all outreach deployment activities, engagement strategies, and advocacy strategies as well as internal and external communications for the SCOPE program.

4.2.6 Phoenix, AZ: Valley Metro

Valley Metro Regional Public Transportation Authority (Valley Metro) is the primary transit provider in Phoenix, Arizona, and provides coordinated transit services to Chandler, Mesa, Phoenix, and Tempe. It operates a multimodal transportation system that includes bus service, light rail, and streetcars. The service area population is approximately 3.6 million, and the system had annual unlinked passenger trips of 17.5 million in 2022. In the city of Phoenix and Mesa/Maricopa counties, there are approximately 9,000 homeless individuals, which includes about 5,000 who are unsheltered. As reported in TCRP Synthesis 121, Valley Metro viewed people who were experiencing homelessness as a minor issue in its transit system (Boyle 2016), although the number of people experiencing homelessness on the system has seemed to increase over the past few years. Valley Metro also reported that chronically unsheltered individuals remained resistant to accepting services to resources. For nearly a decade, Valley Metro’s philosophy, processes, and procedures regarding people experiencing homelessness have focused on behaviors, transit ordinances, and procedures to ensure that all riders have a safe and secure transit experience. The transit authority does not track the relationship between incidents and housing status.

Valley Metro works closely with the City of Phoenix’s Human Services Department and Public Transit Department to coordinate homelessness-related services and activities. PHX C.A.R.E.S., a collaborative community action, response, engagement, and services outreach team, is the city’s program for connecting the community with services like encampment cleanups, shelters, and other resources for individuals and families experiencing homelessness (City of Phoenix n.d.). Through this partnership, Valley Metro is working with nonprofit organizations and service providers that provide initiatives and practices to address chronically unsheltered populations. The Phoenix Public Transit Department funds one PHX C.A.R.E.S. team (approximately $125,000 per year) to engage with homeless individuals around the light-rail stations and throughout the transit service area. The team conducts outreach and attempts to offer services to persons possibly experiencing housing challenges who are on Valley Metro buses and at train stops. When needed, Valley Metro security staff contact PHX C.A.R.E.S. to offer services (including providing encampment cleanups) and resources to help end homelessness. Valley Metro also reported that it will continue to use its “Respect the Ride” policy and code of conduct for those using Valley Metro services to discourage disruptive, intrusive, unsafe, or inappropriate behaviors on the system.

In addition to Valley Metro’s efforts, the Phoenix Public Transit Department created the Homeless Service Provider Program, which allows qualified organizations to purchase fare passes at half price. The city’s Public Transit Department also runs a heat relief shuttle and a heat relief bus during extreme heat events. The shuttle picks up individuals experiencing homelessness near the Human Services Campus and transports them to the Phoenix Convention Center, while the heat relief bus, a 40-foot compressed natural gas bus staged at the Phoenix Human Services Campus, provides a cooling station.

4.2.7 Reno, NV: RTC Washoe

The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Washoe County, Nevada, provides public transportation bus service to the residents of Reno and Sparks along with unincorporated areas of Washoe County and operates across Lake Tahoe, Reno, Sparks, Sun Valley, and Carson City. The transit service area population is approximately 330,000, and the agency had annual unlinked passenger trips of 4.6 million in 2022. In Washoe County, 1,600 people experienced homelessness in 2022 on a given day, which includes about 400 who were unsheltered. RTC reported that interactions with individuals experiencing homelessness on the system are challenging for bus operators and other riders. RTC has also been faced with labor shortages of fixed-route bus operators, which had a negative impact on transit services, missed trips, and bus route delays for all riders.

RTC has undertaken efforts to help address issues directly related to interactions with people experiencing homelessness and remains dedicated to ensuring the safety, health, and welfare of all its riders. It adopted new public safety strategies to address safety concerns for riders and transit workers. This included revising its passenger behavior policy handbook, which focuses on behaviors, actions, and outcomes rather than on groups of people. RTC has built a partnership with a local nonprofit outreach organization that initiates daily check-ins with transit agency security and assists with matters outside of transit security’s expertise and abilities. RTC has also established regular monthly internal safety and security meetings with security officers and other branches of the transit system to discuss security issues, provide monthly safety and security messages for the agency, and ensure that transit employees comply with federal and state rules and regulations.

As in many communities, affordable housing is an important issue in Reno, and the lack of affordable housing highly correlates with homelessness. Reno is growing quickly, and securing affordable housing continues to be a challenge. Having affordable housing near transit stops helps people have access to essential services and enhances their quality of life. RTC is supportive of affordable housing near transit because it improves mobility for everyone and boosts transit ridership. RTC undertook an affordable housing study to explore ways to encourage developers to build affordable housing near existing transit routes (Wood Rodgers 2020). The study identified locations near transit that would be ideal for affordable housing. RTC will work with its regional partners and the development community to potentially develop a pathway to encourage affordable housing at identified locations.

4.2.8 San Francisco, CA: BART

San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) serves five counties in California: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara. The service area population is approximately 3.3 million, and the agency had 41.3 million unlinked passenger trips in 2022. BART has seen an increase in the number of people experiencing homelessness on its transit vehicles and in its facilities. In 2022, the PIT count revealed that approximately 38,000 people were experiencing homelessness in the Bay Area. BART identified the following ongoing issues related to homelessness and mental and behavioral health crises that it is responding to:

• Transit system elevators and in other facilities being used as restrooms and for drug use.
• Increased presence of encampments (e.g., manmade structures, campers) under their aerial transit tracks and in other locations.
• Sixty encampment fires that affected its transit system during the previous year.

In 2020, BART spent $16 million to address issues related to homelessness and encampment response, extra cleaning requirements, and increased safety and security measures. In 2021, BART created the Social Resources & Homelessness Action Plan to address homelessness, cleanliness,

substance abuse, and mental health on the system and to coordinate with policymakers, decision makers, social service partners, and stakeholders (e.g., riders and employees) (Bay Area Rapid Transit n.d.a). The top action items in BART’s homelessness plan are:

• Regularly engage and advocate at all levels of government,
• Develop public–private partnerships,
• Create a statewide transit advocacy coalition,
• Integrate and coordinate with similar BART progressive policing and stakeholder engagement priorities,
• Develop performance measures and collect and analyze data, and
• Continue to follow and incorporate relevant best practices.

A key element of the plan was the creation of a new senior manager of social services partnerships position, which focuses on designing and working collaboratively with the BART Police Department – Progressive Policing and Community Engagement Bureau (PPCEB) management team on implementing and overseeing programs to address homelessness and related issues within the BART system. The position serves as the top adviser for the general manager and the board of directors on matters related to homelessness and the health and social welfare of BART riders. The position also manages formal and informal partnerships within city and county jurisdictions and nonprofit organizations. As part of the action plan, BART actively monitors and evaluates the progress of initiatives, surveys riders, and tracks data and metrics.

In 2012, BART introduced a crisis intervention team coordinator and community outreach liaison to train officers in dealing with vulnerable populations and support them in the field as a co-response team to address the issues and concerns districtwide in four counties. BART has been rethinking its outreach, engagement, and policing approaches. In 2021, the Progressive Policing: Stakeholder Engagement Recommendations report established the implementation of outreach and crisis intervention teams, training and skills for staff, and the development of a districtwide partnerships, as well as a redeployment strategy to place more officers on trains (Bay Area Rapid Transit 2021). BART has been taking active steps to decriminalize homelessness, particularly in loitering situations. The BART PPCEB division staffs a 47-person unit consisting of a deputy chief, two civilian supervisors, one sergeant, eight officers, 10 transit ambassadors, and 20 crisis intervention specialists trained in social work (unarmed professionals), who are in teams of two and provide a co-response collaboration with CIT police officers throughout the district during revenue hours. Teams from this division respond to calls involving people who are experiencing a crisis with drugs or mental health and help connect individuals with resources as well as perform welfare checks. In addition to BART staff, the transit agency contracts with the San Francisco Homeless Outreach Team and the Abode Outreach Services Program in San Francisco and in Contra Costa County; the efforts are run by Contra Costa Health, Housing, and Homeless Services Division’s Coordinated Outreach Referral, Engagement program. In Alameda County, La Familia Outreach Program provides a warm handoff resource providing access to housing and reducing recidivism through its diversion program.

BART recently introduced an internal tracking system to evaluate individual cases and develop a preventive measure program that is used for collecting data and sharing among team members. These data are used to assess problematic areas on the BART system and to evaluate case management approaches to reduce high calls for service and to connect individuals to appropriate services.

4.2.9 Washington, DC: WMATA

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) is a tri-jurisdictional government agency that operates bus and rail transit services; the system includes 91 stations,

117 miles of track, and 1,500 buses in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area. The transit service area population is approximately 4.9 million, and the agency had annual unlinked passenger trips of 183.2 million in 2022. In 2022, almost 7,600 people in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area experienced homelessness, 70% of which were Black. In recent years, WMATA identified three major impacts from homelessness:

• First, that an increased number of people were sleeping in and on transit property assets.
• Next, that people experiencing homelessness were using transit properties to meet basic hygiene needs.
• Finally, that transit services ridership had declined, which was associated, to some degree, with homelessness.

To better respond to and support people experiencing homelessness, WMATA created a multipronged approach. It launched the Homelessness Action Team (HAT) to create a cohesive response strategy for the transit agency. HAT now patrols the stations and functions as a homeless outreach team within Metro Transit Police Department (MTPD). The team’s strategies include retraining and refocusing policing initiatives to help police become better equipped with various tools and resources at their disposal. They focus on situations where people experiencing homelessness are living with a mental health illness or nonviolent psychiatric distress. Metro is also hiring crisis intervention specialists trained in mental health awareness and de-escalation methods who will be paired with an MTPD officer or operating staff person to respond to customers with mental health disorders or intellectual or developmental disabilities. As of 2022, MTPD had 468 sworn police officers, 140 security special police, and 101 civilian personnel to support community policing and safety initiatives.

WMATA has worked to develop partnerships with regional homelessness service organizations. The transit agency collaborates monthly with external organizations, agencies, and stakeholders, including regional law enforcement agencies. Monthly meetings have been beneficial in helping improve collaboration among agencies to provide better services and resources to those experiencing homelessness. The meetings also serve as a tracking system across agencies. During the meetings, the activities and movements of people experiencing homelessness are discussed. Based on these meetings and reports, homeless outreach teams are deployed to various stations at various times of the day. WMATA noted that working with behavioral health and crisis teams, such as the District of Columbia’s Department of Behavioral Health Community Response Team, and the crisis and overdose training from the nonprofit The h3 Project DC, have been beneficial.

Washington’s Union Station is one of the nation’s busiest train stations and has experienced notable increases in people experiencing homelessness since 2020 and the COVID pandemic, which has been a strain on riders and businesses at the station (Lazo and Hermann 2022). Amtrak contracts with a homeless service provider, The h3 Project DC, to conduct homeless outreach at Union Station (The h3 Project DC n.d.). The h3 Project DC connects with people experiencing homelessness as well as businesses and other station users, including station tenants, visitors, transit riders, and customers.

4.2.10 National Transit & Vulnerable Populations Workgroup

The National Transit & Vulnerable Populations Workgroup was created in 2021 by individuals at transit agencies throughout the United States that were dealing with issues of safety and homelessness at their transit systems. The work group provides a forum to:

• Share knowledge, information, and experiences regarding issues and impacts on their respective transit systems; and
• Discuss strategic activities and programs that can be developed and implemented.

The informal group was started by representatives of BART, CapMetro, DART, RTD, and TriMet but has expanded to include other transit agencies, such as Sound Transit, Charlotte Area Transit System, CTA, LA Metro, MARTA, Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, MetroLink, MTA, OCTA, MTS, and Utah Public Transit.

Since 2021, the working group has met monthly to share experiences and challenges and offer expertise and resources on how transit agencies are addressing public safety and community outreach. While the group’s focus is broader than homelessness, there is overlap between how transit agencies are rethinking their approaches to crisis management, community engagement, employee training, and public safety and security with their approaches to homelessness. The group has shared program updates, standard operating procedures (SOPs), policies, job descriptions, metrics and data collected, response team training, ideas on rethinking enforcement and policing, and other information. Guest speakers have presented on community engagement, mental health, drug addiction, and data/performance measures. The workgroup held a 2-day workshop in August 2022 in Denver to discuss specific topics, share knowledge, and plan research and resource needs.

4.3 Case Study Summary Findings

The case studies presented public transportation agencies’ work to mitigate the impacts of homelessness while supporting efforts to aid people experiencing homelessness. Concrete activities were provided that transit agencies can take on. The case studies showed a range of levels of engagement on the topics. From a review of the case studies and the industry scan, transit agencies’ practices can be categorized as follows:

• Access to hygiene services: Access to hygiene services, such as restrooms, porta-potties, and showers, varies across transit systems.
• Ambassador programs: Ambassador programs may focus on homeless outreach, transit enforcement, or general customer service.
• Crisis intervention training: This training can be provided to more transit employees, not just to security and enforcement personnel.
• Crisis management staff: On-call or on-system crisis management staff and teams can respond to events or needs.
• Homeless outreach programs: Outreach programs and staff directly focus on engaging and providing services to people experiencing homelessness on a transit system.
• On-site services: These services provide homeless, mental health, or other services at an on-site location.
• Transportation to shelters: Transportation to shelters is provided through free bus fares or direct transport.

Table 7 shows the homeless activities by transit agency in the case studies.

Several additional themes were highlighted in the case studies.

• Data and metrics: More understanding is needed on the data and performance metrics needed to understand the effectiveness of policies and programs.
• Enforcement: Standard enforcement policies and techniques are not sufficient to mitigate the impacts and effect of homelessness. Transit agencies are supplementing enforcement with the support programs discussed.
• Funding: Additional funding is needed for the transit agencies and their partners; these partners are also underfunded, under-resourced, and understaffed.
• Leadership: Leadership is important for implementing effective policies and practices to manage issues related to homelessness while maintaining quality transit services and clean

Table 7. Homeless activities categories by transit agency cases.

*Access to hygiene services varies across systems and may include restrooms, porta-potties, and showers.

**Ambassador programs may focus on homeless outreach, transit enforcement, or general customer service.

• and safe environments for all riders. Transit agency leadership is critical in responding to homelessness due to its ability to build partnerships, improve system accessibility, assist in outreach efforts, repurpose facilities, and advocate for effective policies and resources with local agencies and organizations. By leveraging their resources, expertise, and influence, transit agencies can contribute to comprehensive and coordinated approaches that address homelessness in their communities.
• Partnerships: Since the solutions to homelessness are beyond the transit agencies’ scope and control, transit agencies need assistance from government partners, other agencies, and organizations. Transit agencies should understand their role in managing solutions regarding homelessness and build appropriate partnerships with organizations to assist with matters outside of the agencies’ expertise and abilities.