Sheltr

Onboarding
Onboarding
Onboarding
Schedule Listing for Tenant
Onboarding
Onboarding
Schedule Listing for Tenant
Landlord Listings
Saved/Liked listings by Tenant
Swipe Screen for Tenant
Chat between Tenant and Landlord

Inspiration

Every night over 266,000 individuals across the United States sleep homeless on the streets because finding emergency housing is a chaotic struggle. Traditional resources rely on static PDFs or outdated websites that completely lack real-time data and updates. We were inspired to build Sheltr to eliminate this confusing process and transform a stressful search for survival into a rapid, dignified path to safety.

What it does

Sheltr is a matchmaking platform for low-income Section-8 housing designed to simplify resource navigation for vulnerable populations and social workers. By making use of a familiar, card-swiping interface such as "Tinder". The app takes away unnecessary stress from poor individuals who are already busy in their lives. Users see the shelter profiles and swipe to match. Instead of showing generic lists, Sheltr evaluates live shelter availability against complex, user-defined constraints. Users can instantly filter nearby locations by critical, non-negotiable parameters such as total family party size, ADA wheelchair accessibility, and pet-friendly policies, making them only match with shelters actively capable of accepting them.

How we built it

We built this with the help of Cursor IDE and AI. We used the coding languages Next.js, TypeScript, React, Tailwind, HTML, and CSS.

Challenges we ran into

We encountered critical network errors where frontend user inputs failed to establish a stable connection with our database routing. This caused data drops during submissions. Most affected, when attempting to integrate real-time user notifications, the application experienced problematic conditions with user privacy. The notification loops began conflicting with our primary state management, crashing the app's responsiveness. Handshaking protocols between our client-side interface and backend servers repeatedly dropped packets due to unhandled exceptions and server timeout errors, forcing us to quickly rewrite our network error-handling functions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully deployed a working text-in prototype, breaking down the digital data barrier for users without smartphones or cell service. Flattened Learning Curve: We transformed a multi-step, stressful logistical nightmare into a user experience that requires zero instructions to understand. We are incredibly proud of building a project that doesn't just treat low income as a data point but directly addresses human dignity, family unity, and pet companionship.

What's next for Sheltr

Building a single-click SMS-reply system for shelter managers to update their bed counts simply by responding to an automated daily text. Making a live public project, and then selling it to companies.