How an App Can Help Fight Homelessness
WIRED February 2, 2022
With flashlights, gift bags, and an app, I spent a day learning about our unhoused neighbors and logging what they really need.
BLEARY-EYED DUE TO the 5:30 am check-in, I zigzagged through bulky-jacketed volunteers gathered in the library basement toward my team. We were preparing to interview homeless individuals for the 24-hour Point in Time (PIT) count held across the US in late January.
Everyone on my team was drawn to our town’s first PIT count for different reasons. As a high school principal, John saw families and teens struggle with homelessness. While volunteering at a free health clinic, Monica, a retired nurse, met people fearful of losing their homes. And I knew how quickly life could change after losing our home to an explosion of toxic mold 19 years ago.
John, Monica, and I decided to rotate through the interviewer, notetaker, and lookout roles on the team. We grabbed backpacks of gifts for interviewees, I pulled on a reflective vest that I borrowed from the local utility company, then checked to make sure I had my cell phone, reading glasses, gloves, a tiny flashlight, and the password for Counting Us handy.
