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LOS ANGELES (CNS) — Metro experienced a 57% decrease in homelessness on its transit system since 2024, marking two straight years of progress, officials announced on Tuesday.
Data from the 2026 Homeless Count led by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in January showed a 31% decrease in homelessness on the transit system compared to 2025. This year’s count estimated 395 to 517 unhoused individuals on Metro’s transit system.
The estimate was lower than the 631 to 684 unhoused people in 2025 and 1,041 to 1,092 unhoused people in 2024. Metro noted the point-in-time count is not an exact census, but estimates are reported as a range to account for statistical margins of error.
In fiscal year 2025-26, outreach teams connected 354 individuals to permanent housing, Metro reported.
Metro officials described this year’s results as continued progress, which they say is due to the agency’s integrated public safety model, combining care-based services with coordinated law enforcement and security to improve safety.
Metro Board Chair and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass noted that during and after the coronavirus pandemic, more unhoused people began using the transit system.
“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,” Bass said in a statement.
In January, Metro’s Department of Public Safety launched its Care-Based Services Division, bringing together Metro ambassadors, the Homeless Outreach Management and Engagement program and community intervention specialists under one roof.
“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 CEO Stephanie Wiggins said in a statement.
“These results show that our model is making a real difference — for people experiencing homelessness and for the tens of thousands of customers who rely on Metro every day,” Wiggins added.
The 2026 Homeless Count occurred Jan. 20-22. On the first day of the count, 62 volunteers consisting of outreach workers, Metro employees and riders counted unhoused individuals seen on the rail and busway system in one evening.
The counting methodology used by Metro is the same as the countywide effort, developed by LAHSA and aligned with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development standards. The Metro-specific results, which focused on stations, rights-of-way and parking lots, were not included in LAHSA’s published regional total but provide an essential look at homelessness on the transit system.
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