CommentsDEEGAN ON LA-High tech will step up in 2019 to help make life a little easier for the homeless in LA, thanks to a new app called “Get Help for Homeless.” It will give first responders in Los Angeles access to medical, mental health, recovery and shelter resources for homeless people.
The six-month pilot program was recently announced by former Councilmember Mitch Englander (CD12) and Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson (CD8). Reportedly developed for $20,000, it could be one of the most efficient uses of city funds directed toward homeless relief.
The app represents one more tool in the rapid development of homeless assistance programs that also includes Mayor Garcetti's “bridge housing” program that aims to have homeless shelters in all fifteen city council districts, and funds made available for affordable housing through Props H and HHH. The new app will be available during the pilot phase to some police officers, firefighters and workers with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and may eventually roll out for public availability.
Colin Sweeney, Communications Director for Councilmember Greig Smith (CD12), told CityWatch, “Our office has been working with the departments and partner organizations including LAPD and LAHSA to develop a successful pilot. In the coming weeks, there will be multiple training sessions to ensure proper use of the Get Help app. We're excited to see the impact this tool will have in assisting first responders connect unsheltered individuals with services.”
This is the first time Get Help has worked with homeless outreach. The organization, founded, owned, and operated by licensed doctors, focuses on substance abuse and mental health recovery by “connecting individuals seeking treatment with therapists, programs, and resources that match their precise needs.” They specialize in matching patients with facilities; the homeless iteration being tested in Los Angeles will expand the deliverables to include shelters.
New York, Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas and other cities have been using technology to connect the homeless to food, shelter, clinics, emergency and mental health services and addiction recovery, so why not use it in Los Angeles, where reducing homelessness has become one of the most pressing problems we have?
If this program works as expected, there’s room for growth in how apps can be used to help the homeless in LA, just as there are in San Francisco and Seattle. San Francisco uses Concrn, an app for requesting a “compassionate responder” when help for a homeless person is not an emergency. It connects the homeless person with a trained responder who can help that person in need find appropriate services.
Their process, available only in the tough Tenderloin district, is based on three simple steps: “identification,” “report,” and “response.” If you see someone who appears to be going through an emotional or behavioral health crises, you can use the app to request what they call a “compassionate responder” who is trained to provide assistance by connecting the person to appropriate shelters and services as needed. While it’s limited in scope to a small but significant geographic area, the app may help relieve some of the strain on 911 and police calls.
The city of Seattle gives it away: money that is, via Samaritan in a program that utilizes a tech partnership between a donor and a homeless person. Participating homeless people wear a Samaritan beacon that is read by a bluetooth connection as a donor passes by them. Their story (and picture) appear on your smartphone screen. You can then choose to donate to them by activating, via bluetooth, their beacon that is preloaded with ten dollars that can be spent at participating restaurants and stores.
With the new Get Help app, Los Angeles is joining a growing list of cities using technology and smartphone apps to help the homeless. In addition to the ones used in San Francisco and Seattle, some others include Our Calling that lists services like addiction recovery, food resources and shelters in Dallas; Street Light Chicago that helps homeless youth find shelters, clinics, and emergency and mental health services; and Help Finder NYC, an app that lists resources in health care, housing and legal assistance, food and clothing, and employment and education services.
A Google search of “homeless apps” turns up dozens more apps in cities across the country. While Los Angeles, known as a city where trends are often started, may be joining the trend later than other cities, the Get Help app program is here and rolling out.
As Councilmember Marqueece Harris-Dawson (CD8), chair of the Homelessness and Poverty Committee says, homelessness is “the greatest crisis of our time.” Technology is yet another way to attack the problem.
(Tim Deegan is a civic activist whose DEEGAN ON LA weekly column about city planning, new urbanism, the environment, and the homeless appear in CityWatch. Tim can be reached at [email protected].) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
