Millbrae launches new BART homeless outreach program

A new homeless outreach program has received final approval from city officials aiming to address an increasing number of people experiencing homelessness, often suffering from mental health or drug addictions, at or near the Millbrae BART station.

Homeless people who may be using the trains as shelter often end up at the station, which is at the end of the line, as a result of being forced off in what is often referred to as “sweeps” by BART employees at the end of the night. More than 85% of people experiencing homelessness that first responders in the city encounter come from San Francisco, the majority of which use BART to travel to Millbrae, according to the city. 

“This, what they call sweeping of the trains, to me, is inhumane and it’s really not fair to the homeless or our city” said Vice Mayor Anne Olivia. “This daily encounter of transient homelessness in our residence, it’s frightening and it should not become the norm of anybody.”

The outreach program, which will be structured as a pilot, will see two full-time social workers employed for one year to conduct outreach and guide people experiencing homelessness, drug addiction or mental illness into services. Those services could include shelter beds, food assistance or even a bus ticket for people who may be trying to get somewhere else, said county Human Service Agency Director Ken Cole.

“The service is to engage people and find out what their needs are,” said Cole, who added work is still being done to understand the situation, and emphasized that while police are often tasked with issues surrounding homelessness, the pilot will bring a “social worker approach.”

The social workers will be retained from service provider LifeMoves, a Peninsula nonprofit with relevant expertise, who will spend some time at the BART station to conduct their work, particularly during nighttime hours coinciding with the arrival time of the last BART train. 

The program will be monitored with quarterly reports provided by the county on the number of people who receive services and what those services end up being. 

Funding will be split between the county and city, with $100,000 coming from District 1 supervisor office via Measure K funds, $42,411 from the County Human Service Agency, and $100,000 from the city.

Some councilmembers expressed disappointment that BART is not contributing funding to the effort, despite being asked.

“This does not relieve BART from their responsibilities they have neglected for far, far too long,” said Councilmember Gina Papan. “They have responsibilities they need to address, and if not we should discuss taking legal action.”

City Manager Tom Williams said the city had several meetings with BART, and the agency at one time offered to send their own homeless outreach team once a month to the station at a cost of $250,000. 

“We just felt like that cost benefit wasn’t there,” said Williams.

BART did not respond to a request for comment. 

“Nobody has properly addressed this homeless issue, there’s been a lot of time and a lot of money spent on it, but now it’s the city of Millbrae taking a leadership role to address this issue out at the BART station,” said Williams.

County supervisors will vote to give final authorization to fund the pilot Oct. 10, which is expected to be approved.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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