Vancouver Shelters

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Inspiration

How could we make finding a shelter and community resources easier and more accessible for the homeless? How could we match the homeless individual to a shelter that suits their needs and feels safe for them? And how could we connect shelters operating in the City of Vancouver to each other?

Difficulties for those that are homeless: Finding available shelters on short notice, Not knowing if they qualify (female only, LGBTQ friendly, allow children), Not knowing if they have space for their belonging or accommodation for pets, Not knowing if long term or short term stay available, Not knowing if there are resources available (counseling services, medical services, job help)

Difficulties for shelters: Letting other know if there is space or not, Not knowing where else to send people if shelter is full, Away to share resources, or requesting help (extra donations could be sent to another shelter location), Advertising their services

What it does

Inspired by tools that show walk-in clinic wait times, we came up with Shelter Helper, a web app that shows real-time updates on the availability status of each shelter and other community resources for people facing homelessness.

What's next for Vancouver Shelters

For future development, we would like to include more resources for people facing homelessness. This would include long-term housing assistance, mental health, COVID-19 quarantine support and employment resources etc. A volunteer portal, where other people can join Shelter Helper to support the expansion of the platform in other cities. Also, We would like to empower users and give them a voice by including user-generated feedback for each shelter and other community service providers.