BART hopes to increase its efforts to connect homeless and unhoused riders with social services by 5 percent over the next three years, the transit agency’s point person on addressing homelessness said Thursday.
Daniel Cooperman, BART’s senior manager of social services, and officials from the agency’s police force outlined BART’s Strategic Homeless Action Plan to the agency’s Board of Directors.
The action plan, according to Cooperman, will guide the agency through 2026 as it seeks to help unhoused riders access social services while ensuring that all riders feel respected and safe while riding BART.
BART has already made attempts to make its handling of some unhoused riders who may be disruptive more progressive, including by dispatching non-lethal “ambassadors” and crisis intervention experts throughout the system.
The agency has also established partnerships with local social service providers in Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco and San Mateo counties, helping some unhoused riders to access resources they may need.
“We have seen that the level of investment we’ve made has shown positive improvements to the system,” Cooperman said. “This increased outreach has led to meaningful engagement and we’re continuing to progress towards the appropriate balance between engagement and enforcement.”
Part of the action plan also includes an effort to expand BART’s resources to address and assist homeless riders throughout the system.
That may include establishing a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, Cooperman said, as BART is not eligible for state and federal funding support.
“This is sort of a workaround to allow BART to be eligible for some of this aid and county funding to address this issue,” Cooperman said.
BART also intends to help assuage regional homelessness by building housing developments on some of the properties it owns, such as at the El Cerrito Plaza, North Berkeley, Ashby and Lake Merritt stations.
Ultimately the agency is still largely at the mercy of how local governments in the Bay Area transition residents-in-need toward social services and permanent housing.
That is compounded by the region’s population of unhoused residents increasing faster than residents are being housed. Several counties in the region saw increases in their homeless populations in 2022.
“We don’t have control over some of the governmental situations that are happening out there with this problem at a crisis level,” Board Director Bevan Dufty said.
He added, “I think we’ve demonstrated our commitment to doing things differently, and I think that we’re setting a good example.”
27 comments
Dump them in Berkeley.
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BART’s charge is to provide mass transit services… not waste its time and resources on the homeless.
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How ’bout BART stick to transportation (supposedly what it is supposed to do “best”) and let the other gov’t agencies/charities/nonprofits, etc that work homeless issues and know it better do their job? They are spreading themselves into other areas they are not suited to work at the expense of providing the services they should be providing.
BART should start by making sure each rider has paid for their fare, all passengers get off at the end of the line to ensure riders aren’t riding back and forth all day and basically living on the train, keep the trains clean, safe, available often and well maintained at a reasonable cost. They currently fail on all these metrics.
Jut kick those losers off and stop wasting our money!
Another tax payer swindle.
Why are people complaining about them actually tackling the problem ? This is great, you people need to stop being reactionaries and focus on progress to end homelessness on the trains, good job BART
Because BART is in the business of TRANSPORTATION, not community service for homeless. BART is going to create another group of people that need to be paid instead of utilizing already EXISTING services. It is just a reason to increase the rates. This is nothing more than WOKE grandstanding by supposed leaders at BART.
You are the the same person to complain if they don’t take action, this is good, eliminating homelessness on BART elevates your TRANSPORTATION quality, cleanliness and safety, as a PARENT why wouldn’t you want that for your children and the community, reflect !
The same person to complain if they don’t take action?
Yep! I will complain if they don’t take action. I will also call it out if they are taking the WRONG action outside of their LANE.
What other transportation agency is trying to take care of the homeless? None. Why? Cause that is not their job. Their job is to move people from one destination to another. I don’t see doctors/nurses trying to be a mechanic. Or a mechanic who is a barber. Or a barber that is an accountant.
This type of rhetoric coming from a PARENT is insane, you’re so out of touch from reality and I hope you or your family never end up in a situation like homeless people do, I’d despise being a child of a parent that has no empathy towards others, also barbers are their own accountants, think about this when you go to sleep tonight
925
Insane? Out of touch with reality? I appreciate the humor you provide this morning.
Well anyways, I hope to never become homeless as well, or my children. But, and it is a big but, I would never expect a transportation agency to provide me care if I was homeless. I would expect a community service organization, maybe a church, the government (if they got their act together), but not BART.
The insane part is you think BART should be involved … can you honestly explain why a transportation entity should be involved in caring for the homeless?
As for accountant barber comment, most I know hire an accountant for taxes …. and I honestly know a few small business owners (landscape, contractor, hair salon, safety consulting).
925er – it appears you’re the one who is out of touch with “reality.”
You’ve never spent time trying to work with them, but instead want to throw other peoples money at a problem that NOBODY has been able to “solve.”
Don’t try to define your “reality” with facts.
Look at BARTs vision and mission statements. Nothin in there about being a social services agency – especially when they can’t even address fare jumpers…. And I’ve seen more than a few station agents sitting on their a$$e$ playing with their phones.
Then let’s talk about the exorbitant salaries their employees are making.
Nope.
@parent – agree 100% with you. It is not a social services agency, but is a transportation agency.
Apparently 925er has no problem with throwing money at a problem that CANNOT and WILL NOT be solved, simply by throwing money at it. Look at the homeless problems that Newscum promised to fix in SF and California.
Zero results.
This is nothing more than a “feel-good” program that will not be solved. 925er – I suggest that YOU take in sone if the homeless if you have such great ideas. Then let’s see your goals and schedule to resolve the problem. Unfortunately you’re too willing to spend others’ money without a concrete and proven plan to resolve it. And I’m willing to bet that you’ve NEVER been in the trenches trying to work with the homeless.
Bet you also voted for throwing more money at the high speed rail system.
Until these government agencies become more efficient and can demonstrate fiscal responsibility along with their “social responsibility,” it ain’t gonna happen.
How about BART cleaning up its own act and do their job first? It’s another ploy to get more of our $$
Great, looking for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, to funnel money into to benefit associates. Geez.
From the BART Website:
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BART’s vision is to support a sustainable and prosperous Bay Area by connecting communities with seamless mobility.
BART’s mission is to provide safe, reliable, clean, quality transit service for riders.
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I don’t see anything in the mission and vision about providing social services. Stop It. Secure the system to meet your mission statement. Read it! Nobody should get into the system without a paid fare, period.
I thought Bart’s job was to move people around. Now they are going to screw people up by being a Social Worker.
Who will pay for the housing it proposes to build? Riders? I say, NO!
If BART really wants to help, why don’t they house homeless riders in the huge BART headquarters building in Oakland?
Otherwise, stay in your lane BART. Your job is to keep non-paying riders out of the stations and off of the trains. Clean up the trains and provide a good experience for paying riders. Let all the other agencies tasked with addressing homelessness deal with that issue.
It is too late for BART to stay in their lane because they long-since jumped the rails. I suggest that BART needs to get back on-track and do the job they were built for.
It would be nice to think about the paying customer instead of immersing the transit agency into their wokeness agenda. I’d like to see clean cars, clean stations, fare evaders held accountable and kick the riff-raff off.
The last time I rode (about 12 years ago) most of the seats were taken up by homeless and their “belongings.” I watched BART Police stroll by and not say a word. Try fixing things at this level, along with fare evaders, before you branch out into social services.
How interesting, bart is going to “FIX” what neewsom said he’d fix.
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“Just a few months after Gavin Newsom was sworn in as mayor of San Francisco in 2004, he announced a plan to get all of the city’s chronically homeless residents off the streets within 10 years.”
https://tinyurl.com/vdw3uhau
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About only thing CA has managed to do is become a magnet for the homeless AND made it easier to be a drug addict.
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Basically CA has institutionalized enabling of addicts. Addiction is little more than a slow form of suicide.
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bart is evidently being run on premise of Utopian Hubris.
And enabled by the likes of 925er.
Reason I got a job closer to home was because of BART and nothing being done with the homeless. Urine on trains, BART PD not doing anything about it, the homeless being very rude, but fares keep on going up. BART should of started dealing with this issue 20 yrs ago. Just maybe if BART started back then, BART would be different today. As many others have said, BART needs to stick with Bay Area Rapid Transit; not helping the homeless because “homeless” isn’t mentioned in Bay Area Rapid Transit and BART needs to focus on the “Rapid Transit”. BART needs to deal with the fare evaders first.
I was on Bart when a homeless woman defecated all over herself and her seat. I was on Bart when a homeless man set up a tent in the aisle and proceeded to smoke crack. I see homeless around most stations, panhandling, and harassing people, mostly swxually harassing women.
There should be a smell test to get on Bart. If you smell like feces, you don’t get in. This would instantly end most of Bart’s issues and expenses.
Public transportation is a menace l, I didn’t realize that as a naïve youngster. It just allows bad agents access to safe communities. Look at the poor woman in Lafayette, stabbed to death by two bums who got off Bart and then started prowling around for an easy victim with an open garage.
I would never, ever want Bart extended to the city I live in.
Why in hell does BART have a (senior) manager of social services???????
Obviously they’re spending money on things that are not part of their core business. Wonder what else they’re throwing money at?
Need to start a grand jury investigation.
Apparently, a hose can be used to address homelessness: Californians’ patience on homelessness wears thin
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