Transit’s Response to People Who Are Homeless

APTA is focusing on the subject of persons who are homelessness at APTA conferences:

• Mobility Conference
• Rail Conference
• TRANSform: APTA’s reimagined Annual Meeting

People who are struggling with homelessness often rely on public transit conveyances or facilities as shelters from the weather and to stay safe. This is a growing challenge for many transit agencies and impacts transit employees and passengers who use public transit trains and buses. Transit agencies across the country are exploring ways to respectfully support persons who are homeless and minimize impacts to transit employees and the traveling public. Agencies have developed important partnerships with law enforcement, social service agencies, mental health experts, advocates for persons who are homeless and others to approach this issue in a more positive way.​​

Resources

The Transit Authority, APTA’s Official Podcast

• Season 1, Episode 6: Public Transit and Homelessness with Tim Chan, Group Manager of Station Area Planning, San Fransisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District

Presentations form the session Transit Agency Approaches to Supporting People Who are Homeless session (2022 APTA Mobility Conference):

• Thomas Hunt:  Safety Response Team
• Keith Leighton:  COTA’s Response to Unhoused Individuals
• Steven Martingano:  RTD Transit Police Outreach Program
• Holly Winge:  Community Intervention Program

Presentations from 2020 Conferences:

• Non-Destination Riders and Essential Workers Think Tank

Presentations from 2019 Conferences:

• Lacy Bell (Sound Transit) Public Transit and Social Responsibility: Homelessness
• Alex Z. Wiggins LA County Metro’s Homeless Action Plan
• Natalie Harris (Coalition for the Homeless) Coordination in Serving Special Populations
• Robert Powers (Bart) Quality of Life Initiative 
• Edward Addison (Deputy Chief of Police at DART) Addressing Homelessness in Transit
• Jeffrey Knueppel (SEPTA) Transit’s Response to People Who Are Homeless

Presentations from 2018 Conferences:

• Tim Chan (BART) Quality of Life Initiatives
• 2018 Leadership APTA Team 4 Public Transit and Social Responsibility
• Wendy Hawthorne (Metro Vancouver Transit Police) Partnerships: The Key to Addressing the Challenges of Homelessness and Transit 
• David Green (St. Cloud Metro Bus) Agency Collaboration: Combining Efforts for a Safer Community
• Dan Boyle (Dan Boyle and Associates, Inc) Transit Agency Practices in Interacting With People Who Are Homeless – New Possibilities
• Alex Wiggins (LA Metro) LA Metro’s Homeless Action Plan and Outreach Model

Presentations from 2017 Conferences:

• LA Metro’s Transit Homeless Action Plan

Reports all inclusive:

• 2018 Leadership APTA Team 4 Public Transportation and Social Responsibility 
• Dan Boyle (Dan Boyle and Associates, Inc) TCRP Synthesis 121-Transit Agency Practices in Interacting with People Who Are Homeless

Relevant News

• In Search of Land to Place Tiny House Villages, a Nonprofit Is Taking a Different Tack Than the City of Portland: It’s Looking to Private Land
• Not just a transit agency – SacRT offers an innovative new helping hand to Sacramento community’s most vulnerable residents
• Transit Agencies are Changing Their Approach to Homelessness
• As waves of homeless descend onto trains, L.A. tries a new strategy: social workers on the subway
• Response team created for homeless on buses, light rail
• Transit Chief urges subway managers to work with cops, social workers to curb homeless problem