Objectives

To determine whether the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has appropriate oversight and monitoring controls over its homeless outreach services contract at Pennsylvania Station (Penn Station), Grand Central Terminal (Grand Central), and the outlying Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) and Metro-North Railroad (Metro-North) stations within New York City and whether the MTA has met its goal in assisting homeless clients to appropriate shelters off MTA property. The audit covers the period January 1, 2015 through February 4, 2019.

About the Program

The MTA is North America’s largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people in the 5,000-square-mile area fanning out from New York City through Long Island, southeastern New York State, and Connecticut. Two constituent agencies – the LIRR and Metro-North – provide rail service throughout the region, carrying an average of nearly 600,000 customers daily to their destinations via Penn Station or Grand Central in Manhattan. The presence of the homeless at these MTA properties is a growing concern for MTA’s customers and staff, and sometimes presents law enforcement issues. In an effort to better address the homeless issue and to assist homeless individuals, since March 2010, the MTA has contracted with Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC), a non- profit provider of homeless housing and services, for homeless outreach services on MTA railroad property, including Grand Central, Penn Station (LIRR portions), Metro-North stations and rights of way in Manhattan and the Bronx, and LIRR stations and rights of way in Queens and Kings counties. Pursuant to the contract, BRC is responsible for carrying out regular visits to the MTA properties to observe and record, and to engage in homeless outreach activity. BRC is required to produce standardized activity reports (e.g., daily, weekly, monthly) related to its established performance measures and is required to submit these reports to MTA officials. BRC is also responsible for entering the data from its Daily Activity Reports into the MTA’s Homeless Outreach Program database.

Key Findings

• The MTA should develop additional quantifiable performance measures to establish a valid basis for determining whether BRC’s homeless outreach services are meeting expectations and whether the MTA is achieving its goal of maintaining a safe, secure transit environment by assisting homeless clients to appropriate shelters off MTA property.
• Based in part on our observations, we determined BRC is providing only limited outreach services, despite the fact that outreach is one of its primary responsibilities under the contract:
  • On average, BRC outreach workers spent only about 26 percent of their time providing actual outreach services (compared with 53 percent of time spent in the BRC office).
  • During unannounced visits, we witnessed multiple scenarios in which BRC outreach workers appeared to intentionally close the office and isolate themselves from active outreach, depriving services to clients seeking assistance. In several instances, clients repeatedly knocked upon the office door, but received no response, despite the presence of staff within the office.
• The homeless outreach data BRC reported was not accurate or complete, and the MTA does not have a process in place to verify the data. As BRC’s reports are the basis for data analysis and informed outreach decision making, reliable data is essential to ensure that homeless clients are being served as intended and that outreach is being directed to where it is needed most.
• Penn Station is the responsibility of not only the MTA, but also Amtrak and NJ Transit. MTA’s contract with BRC at this station is intended to focus primarily on MTA’s portion of the property. However, despite Amtrak having its own contract, we found that outreach workers spent a disproportionate amount of their workday on outreach at Amtrak’s portion of the station.

Key Recommendations

• Ensure BRC meets established performance measures, and develop and establish additional quantifiable performance measures for the contract.
• Monitor outreach workers to ensure they are providing a sufficient level of outreach services on MTA properties.
• Develop and establish internal controls to ensure that BRC’s reported data is accurate and complete, and use the available data to make informed managerial decisions.
• Negotiate with each of the railroads operating within Penn Station to provide proportionate levels of resources to support homeless outreach services.