Shelter4All

Sabrina, Ian, Amer and Tasnim

City College of New York

ENGL 21007

Sara Jacobson

04/26/2022

Introduction

Shelter4all is an app designed to help homeless people find shelters. Homelessness has been an ongoing issue in New York City for years but not much progress has been made. Some apps for homeless shelters already exist, but they are hard to navigate and do not provide all the necessary features. Shelter4all aims to fill in these gaps and provide a one-stop shop for people in need to locate shelters and other services. The app also aims to be as accessible as possible by including both a web app and a mobile app as well as launching an advertising campaign to reach those in need.

Background

The Great Depression began in 1930, throwing the country into economic turmoil. A huge portion of the population lost their jobs and property. Two years later, millions of people were homeless and had nowhere to sleep except the streets (Gregory, 2009). Today, the level of homelessness has reached its highest level ever since The Great Depression. In January 2022 about 48,500 people were homeless and about 15,000 of them were homeless children. Since then, about 18,800 people have been sleeping in shelters. The number of people that are homeless in shelters is about 15 percent much higher than it was ten years ago, that is millions of people (Brown, 2022).  NYC tried clearing about 240 homeless camps, but only 5 people decided they wanted to move to shelters; the rest wanted to find new locations on the streets to live on because of concerns regarding safety in the shelters. Soon, there were about 80 per week asking for shelters, recently it was only 22, but there were still many remaining on the streets.

Mayor DeBlasio had plenty of ideas to help these homeless people, over the 8 years of his time he built 2,400 beds. Now, mayor Adams has built 500 beds so far. The mayor had many ideas but never started on the project he planned. He started by handing out brochures to homeless people so they could get an idea of what and when to expect change. They tried to speed up the process because employees that worked in the subway stations were concerned about their safety and others. After all, they were not comfortable with these people living and sleeping in the subway. It was not a place for people to sleep in when they had nowhere to go, but the homeless felt that was much safer for them than actual shelters. So his project was started but never finished the way he intended it to be.  (Newman & Gold, 2022).

This will not be the case anymore after the recent tragic event that took place in downtown Brooklyn, and many other places just in the last few days. Recently in a Brooklyn train station, there were gas bombs and shots were fired. Many were injured, and 10 were shot but all are expected to survive. Then, another event took place at a different train station where two people were shot and two others were stabbed. All this happened within a week, and everyone is concerned about their safety, not just the homeless. Transportation is a concern for people now, no one feels safe wherever they are in the subway and especially the homeless because that is where they spend much of their time.

A former homeless man named Karim Walker recently stated, “It goes without saying that no one wants to live on the street. But a lot of us chose that because the shelters are either unsafe or unsanitary. The shelters do nothing more than function as an extension of the prison system.” (Moses, 2022). Shelters should not be dangerous and should be protected by officers and the community. We are living in a world where people feel safer on the streets than with a roof on top of them to sleep at night. Shelters are not providing the homeless with their needs or what they need to be providing them with. We need to provide them with safety and gender-related safety. Also, they have to be comfortable with their roommates and the community around them. What these people have been getting has been going on for years such as no safety and inside shelters are dangerous also, and it is time to make a change to this.

Competitors

Many competitors are available, such as Shelter App, Our Calling, Seeking Shelter, What I Need, Zero Homeless Initiative, Helperly, Time of Need, and Bridge Over Troubled Water. All of the mentioned competitors are servicing the homeless community on a countrywide scale. The competitors are unsuccessful because they don’t have countrywide advertisements to inform people that their services exist. Some homeless people are illiterate and have mental issues which do not allow their apps to succeed. It is hard to target a countrywide scale because the homeless communities are located in different places. Shelter4all will be providing the homeless community resources only in New York to abolish the  New York  homelessness crisis. These competitors provide various resources such as food pantries, shelters, health screenings, clothing, internet, transportation, and placement assistance.

Application Description

The application itself is made of two main parts: a web app and a mobile app. Both versions of the app must provide access to all of the following functionality to be as accessible as possible. Many homeless people do not have mobile devices, meaning that public computers such as those provided by libraries are their only option. Users are met with a homepage that briefly describes the purpose of the app and advertises ways to access it. A menu bar at the top of the page includes links to other pages including a more detailed “about” section, a feedback option, and contact information.

There are two ways for users to locate an appropriate shelter: a search feature and a calendar app. The search feature works by allowing users to type relevant keywords into a box and then display results in a list sorted by relevance. Advanced options can then be applied to filter the results further, including availability, location, amenities, and rating. The calendar app allows users to search shelters by first selecting a specific date and then locating shelters that have availability on that day. Once a shelter has been located, users are brought to a shelter profile page, which lists all contact information, a short description of the location, all reviews, and other relevant information. The intent is for the app to be as comprehensive as possible and be a one-stop-shop for all shelter-related needs.

An important part of the app is accessibility. To ensure that news of the service reaches as many people in need as possible, an advertisement campaign is necessary. Subway and bus ads are an effective way to reach potential users as many homeless people rely on public transportation. Web ads and billboards also have potential. TV spots are generally more expensive to produce and run but are worth considering in the future.

 

Development Costs

New York City had an average of 64,000 men, women, and children that slept in the City’s homeless shelters each night as of 2018 (“State of the Homeless 2018 – Coalition For The Homeless”, 2018). This population is composed of approximately 16,000 families; single, couples, and those with children. A mobile application required to provide services for this population can range from medium to complex considering that the app must provide access to more than a thousand service providers in the area. Such an app can be classified as an on-demand service app since it connects service providers to end-users and satisfies people’s immediate needs. This type of app combines the social network concept (profile information sharing) and allows people to chat and share information. The app also contains personalized data and user authentication. This app must also be cross-platform. Developing such an app would cost an average of around $50,000-$170,000 regardless of the platform. This app will provide the app developers with native direct access to in-built functions like camera and GPS.

The ongoing support and maintenance of the application costs around 15% to 20% of the entire app development budget. An app developer’s wages range from $5,000 to $7,000 per month. App marketing would cost an average of between $10,000 to $20,000. If a massive investment is made in the collection of profiles of people in shelters, it would take 3 to 4 weeks. Several organizations are willing to aid this initiative. Organizations like Bowery Mission, Ali Forney Centre, Women in Need, BronxWorks, Coalition for the Homeless, and The Doe Fund. National and state governments also play an active role in gathering for the homeless and have significant influence to gather for part of the cost.

 

Conclusion

Shelter from the elements is a basic human right. Shelter4all aims to help people in need find a homeless shelter to sleep in every night where they will feel safe and be connected with the tools to get back on their feet. By providing an accessible way for people to locate and contact homeless shelters with availability, Shelter4all hopes to put a stop to the homelessness crisis in New York City. Available both on the web and as a mobile app and launching with an advertising campaign, it aims to reach as many people in need as possible.

 

References

Routhier, G. (2018). State of the Homeless 2018 – Coalition For The Homeless. Coalition For The Homeless. Retrieved April 25, 2022, from https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/state-of-the-homeless-2018/#_edn1

Gregory, J. (2009). Hoovervilles and homelessness. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://depts.washington.edu/depress/hooverville.shtml

Brown, S. (2022, March 24). NYC’s homeless population grows amid mental health crisis that predominately affects people of color. New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2022/03/24/nycs-homeless-population-grows-amid-mental-health-crisis-that-predominately-affects-people-of-color/

Newman, A., & Gold, M. (2022, March 30). New York City clears 239 homeless camps. Only 5 people move to shelters. The New York Times. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/30/nyregion/nyc-homeless-eric-adams.html

Moses, D. (2022, March 23). Not safe anywhere: NYC’s homeless residents, advocates decry dangerous shelter and street conditions. amNewYork. Retrieved April 15, 2022, from https://www.amny.com/news/not-safe-anywhere-homeless-advocates-decry-dangerous-shelter-and-street-conditions/