Homelessness has dropped 57% on LA Metro system since 2024, count finds

By Colleen Shalby | Los Angeles Times (TNS)

LOS ANGELES COUNTY — Homelessness on Metro's rail and bus system has dropped by 57% since 2024, the agency announced this week.

Despite homelessness rising in Los Angeles and throughout L.A. County since 2025, the count on Metro's buses and rail found a 31% drop over that year. Taken the evening of January 20, the estimate found 395 to 517 unhoused individuals on the system compared to 631 to 684 in 2025 and over 1,000 in 2024.

"This continued decline reflects the dedication of Metro employees and our many partners who work every day to address homelessness with compassion, accountability and coordination," Metro chief executive Stephanie Wiggins said in a statement. "Creating the Care-Based Services Division reinforced our belief that public safety is strongest when care-based services and enforcement work together."

After a 2024 surge in violence against bus drivers and on trains coincided with a significant drop in ridership, safety became a top priority for Metro leaders. The board approved the formation of an in-house police and emergency management department and brought in a longtime police chief to oversee the operation. Metro launched a program to better oversee its 300 ambassadors, homeless outreach teams and intervention specialists, who are tasked with proactively assisting riders, de-escalating mental health crisis situations and pre-empting gang violence without the presence of armed officers.

Outreach teams connected 354 individuals to permanent housing in 2026, the agency said.

The point-in-time count is conducted annually nationwide. Metro's count, conducted by 62 employees, riders and outreach teams, focused on stations, rights-of-way, and parking lots, and was separate from Los Angeles County's annual count of unhoused individuals. The results are not included in Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority published total.

"During and after the COVID-19 pandemic, many more unhoused people began to populate our Metro system," Mayor Karen Bass, who became Metro's chair in July, said in a statement. "Under the leadership of CEO Stephanie Wiggins and the Metro Board during my first term as Chair, we combined compassionate outreach with enhanced public safety strategies to get people housed with the services they need. These results prove that our approach is working and these efforts must continue."

At a recent state of the agency address, L.A. County Supervisor and Metro's first vice chair Kathryn Barger said that customer satisfaction climbed to 87% and that updated fare gates increased paid ridership. Violence also decreased, she said.

"Since 2024, violent crime is down more than 22%. I want to get it to zero," said Barger. "Operator assaults have been cut in half, and serious assaults are down 67%."

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