Responding to recent news that homelessness has jumped 23 percent in Los Angeles County over the last year, Metro announced Friday it has deployed outreach teams across its system to offer services and housing information to the homeless.
The two teams being deployed are part of Metro’s $1.2 million Homeless Action Plan, which was approved last year. The teams include nurses, substance abuse counselors, mental health clinicians, former homeless individuals and other outreach workers.
“Fortunately, Metro is in a position to partner with L.A. County Department of Health Services and People Assisting the Homeless to begin to address the dire homeless situation that tragically affects so many people,” said John Fasana, Metro board chair and city of Duarte mayor pro-tem.
“We are more than willing to do our part to ensure homeless individuals receive the services they may need while ensuring that we can continue to operate a safe and quality environment for all our transit customers,” he said.
According to Metro, its teams made contact with 172 homeless people on the Red Line this week, and five of them filled out applications to access homeless services, seven were taken to local housing, six were given clothing vouchers and four tokens were distributed for follow-up appointments.
The teams will be deployed over the next 12 months and contribute to a case study evaluating homeless outreach needs on the Metro system.
“Homelessness is a pervasive problem, from one end of Los Angeles County to the other,” said Mark Ridley-Thomas, Metro board member and L.A. County Supervisor. “We must act in a collective but caring manner to assist our homeless brothers and sisters.”
Homelessness in the city of Los Angeles jumped by 20 percent over the last year while the county saw a spike of 23 percent, according to the results of the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count released this week.
In the city, the total number of homeless went up to 34,189 and the county number increased to 57,794.
–City News Service