The transit agency's year-long experiment with homeless services has placed 19 people in permanent housing and spurred hopes of expanding the program.

Last year, the L.A. County Metropolitan Transportation Authority launched two teams tasked with outreaching to homeless riders along the Red Line. First formed as a project of the county Department of Health Services, the teams—comprised of medical and mental health providers, substance abuse counselors, and formerly homeless advocates—have sought to "keep track of" homeless people and connect them with services and housing, Meghan McCarty Carino explains for KPCC.
The results so far? "The teams had interacted with about 1,500 individuals over the last 10 months — 19 were actually placed in permanent housing, while 445 more were connected with programs that work to provide temporary or permanent housing," Carino reports.
In hopes of expanding the pilot— which was initially supposed to cover the Gold and Green Lines as well—Metro has put in to receive funding from Measure H, the county sales tax passed last year to fund homeless services. The agency also participates in the Los Angeles Police Department's HOPE program, which partners police officers and homeless services workers.
L.A. Metro, which oversees a real-estate development program alongside its bus and rail operations, has recently turned its attention to homelessness in part as a response to surveys indicating that safety concerns are a major deterrent to transit ridership. As ridership rates continue to fall, the agency has nearly doubled the number of police and armed security guards on rail and buses partly to "mitigate the adverse impacts of homelessness" on transit, although research has suggested that homeless people are more likely to be victims than perpetrators of crime.
FULL STORY: 1 year in, here's how LA Metro's homeless program is doing

Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.

Congressman Proposes Bill to Rename DC Metro “Trump Train”
The Make Autorail Great Again Act would withhold federal funding to the system until the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), rebrands as the Washington Metropolitan Authority for Greater Access (WMAGA).

The Simple Legislative Tool Transforming Vacant Downtowns
In California, Michigan and Georgia, an easy win is bringing dollars — and delight — back to city centers.

Albuquerque’s Microtransit: A Planner’s Answer to Food Access Gaps
New microtransit vans in Albuquerque aim to close food access gaps by linking low-income areas to grocery stores, cutting travel times by 30 percent and offering planners a scalable model for equity-focused transit.

This City Will Pay You to Meet Your Neighbors
A North Kansas City grant program offers up to $400 for residents to throw neighborhood block parties.

Commentary: Our Silence Will Not Protect Us
Keeping our heads down and our language inoffensive is not the right response to the times we’re in. Solidarity and courage is.
Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
This six-course series explores essential urban design concepts using open source software and equips planners with the tools they need to participate fully in the urban design process.
Planning for Universal Design
Learn the tools for implementing Universal Design in planning regulations.
Smith Gee Studio
City of Charlotte
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
City of Astoria
Transportation Research & Education Center (TREC) at Portland State University
US High Speed Rail Association
City of Camden Redevelopment Agency
Municipality of Princeton (NJ)