Could coding, digital design and data visualization help Centretown’s homeless youth? One local organization thinks it’s worth a try and will participate in a Nov. 20 “hackathon” to address the issue.
Partnering with Hack Homelessness, the event organized by Employment and Social Development Canada and Datafest Ottawa, invites two dozen local organizations to compile a list of the challenges they face while working to support the homeless.
During the event, hackers will choose among the challenges and work as a team to prototype solutions for each. They will then present them to a panel of experts.
The list of challenges includes difficulty accessing information that meets the specific demands of clients looking for an affordable home and how to find which group of homeless people has the greatest need for resources.
Just last month, Operation Come Home had nearly 600 homeless or at-risk youth come by its drop-in centre, looking for help with education, employment and housing.
One of them is Michael Lunstrom, 20, who spent two years roaming the streets of Centretown before finding out about the centre through one of its fundraisers.
Lunstrom, who was once homeless, unemployed, and addicted to drugs, now has access to addiction counselling and a job working three days a week at the centre’s food program.
The centre also helped him sign up for transitional housing, and he is on a wait list for a permanent home. “Right now I’m in a good spot,” he said. “Before I found it, was pretty hard to get by.”
But the group is facing challenges when assisting clients, especially with providing affordable housing. That’s one reason why it’s reaching out with this weekend’s “hackathon,” which aims to find technology-based solutions to tackle homelessness.
Representing Operation Come Home at the event will be Dominique Murphy, who operates a housing program for the organization.
The program reaches its capacity of 14 people each year and struggles to serve youth who are often unemployed and out of school. Murphy is looking forward to collaborating with other community groups at the event to get around such barriers.
“Seeing what their challenges are and if there’s a way that we can support each other to better serve our clients, that’s always the outcome that I’m hoping for,” said Murphy.
The hackathon brings together experts in technology and illustration, as well as those who experience homelessness and those who help them.
“That’s what makes these types of events so powerful,” said Jeffrey Neto, who is one of the hackers. “They don’t just look at the problem from one view point, but they look at it from a multitude of perspectives.”
Neto wants to participate by bringing his own perspective on homelessness, which comes from his experience with his non-profit organization.
Design for Citizens is an example of how design can be used to help disadvantaged groups. One of its projects involved creating an information guide for an emergency shelter program.
“That work with my non-profit has given me a great deal of insight in terms of the day-to-day struggles that people who are marginalized feel and experience,” said Neto. “That’s the type of insight I want to bring to the event.”
Hackers will have access to a range of datasets about homelessness to work on their solutions. Among the databases is a study from Ottawa Insights, a web-based community knowledge centre. While the number of people using shelters in Ottawa has fallen from its peak in 2012, this study shows that the average stay length increased from 69 days to 77 in 2014.
The longer shelter stays suggest a growing challenge in transitioning homeless people into permanent housing, according to the research.