Homeless-outreach workers, paramedics, law enforcement officers and other professionals will be able to match homeless people on the street with available and appropriate shelter beds within minutes using an app the San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to fund Tuesday.
District Attorney Summer Stephan asked the board to consider the $300,000 pilot program, which could be launched within six months and include every shelter in the county by the end of the year. Stephan said the new phone application will improve the current method of finding available shelters, which often involves people making a series of calls to hunt down a bed.
Stephan said the technology will be similar to what people already use to plan their vacations. Just as someone may request a one- or two-bed hotel room that accepts pets and is non-smoking, Stephan said the new app will find the correct type of shelter for an individual.
“We know that homelessness is not one-size-fits-all,” she said. “You have people who are very young. You have people who are very old. You have disabilities. You have mothers with children, escaping domestic violence and human trafficking. We know there are members of the LGBTQ community looking for something safe for them.”
The technology will be the first of its kind in the nation and grew out of a similar program launched during the pandemic to match survivors of human trafficking, domestic violence and sexual assault with agencies that provide shelter. With the creation of the Safe Shelter Collaborative, Stephan said, people were matched to shelters in just eight minutes.
Once launched in about six months, the app can be used by outreach workers, paramedics and others who interact with homeless people. Stephan said it also will be available to law enforcement, who could use it as a tool to offer shelter to people as an alternative to jail.
Caravan Studios, which developed the Safe Shelter Collaborative, will be contracted to develop the new app.
Chair Nora Vargas said confidentiality will be maintained when homeless people are linked to shelters through the app, and Supervisor Nathan Fletcher said the app will maximize services that exist through the county and empower outreach workers to immediately find what is available.
©2023 The San Diego Union-Tribune. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.