Using Technology to Help End Homelessness
Homelessness affects more than half a million people in the United States. While more than 50% of those experiencing homelessness live in major cities, no geographic region is untouched, from rural to suburban to smaller urban areas.
Every area faces its own set of challenges when it comes to ending homelessness. For many municipalities, one of the biggest challenges in better serving homeless individuals in their community is connecting and communicating with them. Documenting conversations, sharing helpful information and resources, and following up to ensure CARE becomes much more difficult when the person-in-question doesn’t have a constant home address.
For municipalities struggling to serve their homeless community, software can be a game changer. From better tracking conversations with unhoused people to enhancing cross-department collaboration to provide care and resources, software can assist in ending homelessness.
Municipal Challenges in Ending Homelessness
Different municipalities handle on-the-street relationships with the unhoused in different ways. For some, it’s local law enforcement or even code enforcement officers to social services, healthcare workers or even library staff. Whichever department is on the front lines, each likely faces similar challenges when it comes to tracking conversations with unhoused people and reconnecting with them in the future to provide resources or services.
Obtaining enough resources to effectively serve unhoused individuals is another common challenge that most municipalities face in ending homelessness. Anyone who works in local government knows the struggle in obtaining funding and resources to support government programs – and also knows that strong data can be a big aid in overcoming that challenge.
How Local Government Software Can Help
Local government software solutions such as a CRM/311 platform offer different types of functionality that can assist municipalities in overcoming obstacles to ending homelessness.
With a software solution that allows for a contact database – and the ability to link individuals such as family members within the database – those on-the-street employees that have daily conversations with unhoused individuals can document what was discussed, allowing other employees the ability to pull up the notes for reference in the future.
During the conversation, your staff member might deem an action item necessary for follow-up with the unhoused individual. Software with “case creation” capability allows staff to open cases and assign those action items to other individuals, either on their team, or in another department within the local government organization.
Most local government software today is cloud-based. Because cloud-based software works as well in the field as it does in the office, staff can take ipads or other tablets into the field with them, so they have access to everything they need without having to return to the office.
Document Printing to Aid Sharing Information
Occasionally a staff member will need to connect the unhoused person they are talking with to certain resources – but they might not have the correct pamphlet on-hand at the moment. Because most unhoused people don’t have phones or reliable access to the internet, the best way to deliver information to them is often in paper form. This presents another challenge for staff members as it requires them to have physical resources stocked and on-demand anytime they’re out of the office. When connecting an unhoused person with the right resource requires a trip back to the office for a piece of paper, your staff run the risk of not being able to find that particular person again with ease.
Comcate’s CRM/311 and Code Enforcement Manager has a built-in document printing queue that takes the pressure off officers and staff to have physical resources stocked when they’re out in the field. By connecting a mobile printer to their tablet, staff and officers can print whatever information they need in the moment.
Improve Cross-Collaboration Among Multiple Government Agencies
Homelessness is a complex issue that requires collaboration between a variety of local government agencies to address. Providing the services that an unhoused individual needs often requires input from social services, health departments, law enforcement and many others. Using a single software solution that can be accessed by multiple agencies makes it easy to share information, coordinate efforts and assign action items as-needed from department to department, all of which helps to ensure that homeless individuals receive the support and resources they need.
Software like a CRM/311 system provides all of that functionality. With a customer relationship management system, you can create cases, assign tasks to multiple departments and provide high-level visibility to all key stakeholders so everyone stays in the loop. With a CRM solution, you can even turn the public into a source of input by setting up a hotline that allows individual citizens to report concerning situations such as unhoused people suffering a medical episode or individuals living on the streets with children.
Gather Data to Inform Decision-Making and Access More Resources
Data is king in local government. It’s how you measure the effectiveness of programming, make informed decisions about where to allocate resources, and track emerging trends in your area. It can also be a helpful tool when applying for grants and other funding that can aid homelessness in your area.
CRM/311 software solutions can help generate and display that data in different ways. Thanks to built-in GIS functionality, local government agencies can gather location-based information on homelessness, from distribution of local shelters, permanent housing and homeless encampments to zip code of last permanent address for individuals, and visualize it on a map to spot trends and better figure out where to allocate resources within the city. The system can also be configured to gather data on individuals and types of “cases” to generate reports that validate requests for additional funding in order to address a municipality’s homelessness situation.
Comcate: Better Software for Well-Run Agencies
At Comcate, we believe in the power of technology to increase and improve interactions between local government agencies and their citizens – including those from underserved and sometimes hard-to-reach populations. By combing private sector solutions with a deep understanding of local government needs, Comcate is able to enhance an agency’s service capacity for all its citizens. If you are interested in learning more about local government technology such as a CRM/311 platform or code enforcement software solution could benefit your agency, schedule a demo with us today.
Schedule a Meeting with Comcate Today!
Learn how Comcate can help make government delivery simple, and offer a modern digital experience to help you increase transparency, efficiency, and performance across your departments. If you have any questions about implementing our software, please fill out the form below or call us directly at (415) 632-1248.
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