Our inspiration is drawn from those who have fallen through the cracks in our society. This includes the thousands of people served by St. Patricks Center in the St. Louis region and those in other cities. No one plans to be homeless, nor to incur the myriad of challenges that often leads one through that door.

SafetyNet connects COCs in the St. Louis metropolitan area so that resources can be shared and individuals who are homeless, or are at risk of being homeless, can be better served. The database allows organizations to share and collectively update a client information system; maintain an index of and flag individuals who demonstrate 'at risk' indicators; and streamline the process of accepting and assisting new clients.

Using a git-backed wiki, this software allows individuals using it to retrieve and update information similar to a git repository. An import script allows agencies to upload their client database to a centralized store. The application allows live-updating of pages, and tracks historical changes for auditing and analytics.

Shelter organizations must follow template guidelines for updating their data. Email servers will be encrypted with PGP.

The document based nature and tracking are of great benefit to organizations. Even if an organization changes, the history and tracking of individuals remains allowing easier transfer of information new individuals coming into the field. All the texts remain human-readable and machine-readable as well.

The application enables access to shelters, agencies, and individuals who are at-risk of becoming or who are already homeless via access portals.

The Prevention Portal: This function allows agencies to contact clients who may be at risk of becoming homeless. Agencies upload their client database to the application.

The Emergency Shelter Portal: As agencies update the status of their occupancy, the application allows a client to send a text message to an automated system. An automated text will be returned about current open shelters based on their location. The data would be stored on the server; recording every incoming text to enable analytics and tracking and connect individuals with emergency housing needs to providers.

Referral Portal: The referral portal allows agency professionals the ability to refer one client to another service provider in the region.

Client Portal: The client portal allows clients to view provider hours and shelter vacancies and to filter by location.

A separate service that will exist separate from SafetyNet is Echo Home, an sms autoresponder. The application receives a message from a client's phone and returns a message that informs the client of the nearest homeless shelter with open availability. Homeless shelters may update their occupancy or vacancy status within a simple interface.