Addressing homeless crisis, LA Metro will offer its surplus land for housing

In a departure from its main task of building and operating rail and bus lines, LA Metro will be scouring its property holdings for surplus, vacant and underused land that could be transformed into housing for the homeless.

The LA Metro Board of Directors voted unanimously on Thursday, Feb. 23 to create an inventory of surplus property — everything from unused land near a train station to empty parking lots — to turn over to a future developer for the purpose of building temporary or permanent shelter.

“Everyone knows that about 1,000 people take shelter on Metro (trains and buses) every day who are homeless,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who is also an LA Metro board member. “The idea of Metro property being used for affordable housing is part of that continuum.”

As part of the effort to offer up unwanted land to housing developers, LA Metro has a goal of achieving 10,000 new housing units on its excess land, the agency reported.

“People don’t look at us as a housing institution but in a way we are,” said Los Angeles County Supervisor and LA Metro Board member Hilda Solis. “This is something close to your heart and mine.”

Usually, developers snatch up land adjacent to new Metro train lines for luxury apartments. From Pasadena to downtown Los Angeles to Highland Park and easterly to Monrovia, apartments and townhomes have been built and occupied by working professionals wanting a quick, car-less ride to and from work in Los Angeles, Pasadena, East Los Angeles or Long Beach.

Solis spoke of an affordable housing complex with 232 units built on land once reserved for a new county jail at 1060 North Vignes St., near L.A. Union Station. She said adjacent land owned by LA Metro could be used for similar purposes.

Right after the vote, other offers started pouring in for affordable housing locations.

Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval suggested an affordable housing development could be built on or near a parking lot adjacent to the North Pomona L Line (formerly Gold Line) Station, expected to be completed in January 2025. Housing could take up part of the lot on industrial land near the proposed station, or be built on top of a parking garage; such details were not clear.

“There is property there to be considered,” he said. “It is important to create opportunities for people who don’t historically have access to housing near transit.”

The transit agency, which is second in ridership only to New York City’s MTA, is following the lead of Bass and the city of Los Angeles. On Feb. 10, in an executive order, Bass ordered a list of all city-owned property that is vacant, surplus, or underutilized to be given to the Chief of Housing and Homeless Solutions to determine the suitability “for housing or shelter for those experiencing homelessness.”

Bass, who led the motion in her new role as a Metro board member, said her city will have its report by early March and that Metro’s inventory will follow shortly after. She declared L.A.’s homeless crisis an emergency and has launched a program to remove the homeless from tents and encampments, and into motels and hotels.

Metro CEO Stephanie Wiggins was ordered to report back to the board’s executive management committee at the end of March with a list of properties feasible for housing. A full report on how to streamline the transfer of property, which usually involves a $1 per year lease, is expected to come to the full board at the end of April.

The report updates Metro’s property holdings, last calculated about three years ago, Bass said.

“When thinking about Metro-owned property for housing, it would be nice to refer someone to a location off the line, like a parking lot with a mixed use, with permanent supportive housing with drug treatment,” Bass envisioned.

L.A. County Supervisor and LA Metro Board member Holly Mitchell said even though some Metro train stations will still need parking lots, there’s room for shelter for the unhoused. “We need to think about a new way of using these properties,” she said. “A big slab of concrete next to a Metro station is a waste of space.”

Advocates for low-income housing and working class riders of Metro buses and trains supported the motion, particularly for Metro land located within the city of L.A. Theoretically, this land could be used in conjunction with Measure ULA dollars, which are earmarked for increasing affordable housing. The city of L.A. measure, known as the “mansion tax,” places a tax of 4% on sales of property worth $5 million, and 5.5% on sales that exceed $10 million.

“Many of the ULA projects need public land,” said Laura Raymond, director of the Alliance for Community Transit known as ACT-LA, during the board meeting. “So we can start pairing public land with the dollars from ULA.”

In a related action, the Board voted to pursue the creation of a “service hub” at the end of the A (formerly Blue) Line in downtown Long Beach. Residents, restaurant owners and city officials have challenged Metro’s policy of kicking off homeless riders at the end of the line after 12 midnight and 1 a.m. With no shelters open that late, the unhoused wander the town and sleep on city streets or outdoor restaurant patios.

The service hub facility is being considered on a Metro parking lot. But while Metro can offer the land, the amenities, such as showers, toilets and places to sleep will be the responsibility of partnering agencies, including the city of Long Beach, L.A. County and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).