Current:Home > ScamsTakeaways from AP’s story on inefficient tech slowing efforts to get homeless people off the streets -ProfitPioneers Hub
Takeaways from AP’s story on inefficient tech slowing efforts to get homeless people off the streets
View
Date:2025-04-16 11:22:00
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles is the nation’s epicenter of homelessness, where more than 45,000 people live in weather-beaten tent encampments and rusting RVs. But even in the state that is home to Silicon Valley, technology has not kept up with the long-running crisis.
Billions of dollars have been spent to get homeless people off the streets in the region, but outdated computer systems with error-filled data are all too often unable to provide even basic information.
Better Angels United is developing a series of apps — to be donated to participating groups — that the nonprofit group hopes could revolutionize shelter and services for homeless people that includes a mobile-friendly prototype for outreach workers. It is to be followed by systems for shelter operators and a comprehensive shelter bed database the region now lacks.
Here are some of the key findings by The Associated Press:
What’s going on? No one really knows
More than 1 in 5 of all homeless people in the U.S. live in Los Angeles County, or about 75,000 people on any given night. The county is the most populous in the nation, home to 10 million people, roughly the population of Michigan.
Dozens of governments and service groups within the county use a mishmash of software to track homeless people and services that results in what might be called a tech traffic jam. Systems can’t communicate, information is outdated, data is often lost.
A homeless person wants a shelter, but is a bed available?
Again, it’s possible no one really knows. No system exists that provides a comprehensive listing of available shelter beds in Los Angeles County. Once a shelter bed is located, there is a 48-hour window for the spot to be claimed. But homeless case workers say that window sometimes closes before they are aware a bed is available.
“Just seeing ... the general bed availability is challenging,” said Bevin Kuhn, acting deputy chief of analytics for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the agency that coordinates homeless housing and services in Los Angeles County.
Bad data in, bad data out
One of the big challenges: There is currently no uniform practice for caseworkers to collect and enter information into databases on the homeless people they interview. Some caseworkers might scribble notes on paper, others might tap a few lines into a cellphone, others might try to remember their interactions and recall them later.
All that information later goes into one or more databases. That leaves data vulnerable to errors, or long lag times before information recorded on the street gets entered.
Mark Goldin, Better Angels chief technology officer, described L.A.’s technology as “systems that don’t talk to one another, lack of accurate data, nobody on the same page about what’s real and isn’t real.”
In the home of Silicon Valley, how did tech fall behind?
There is no single reason, but challenges from the pandemic to the county’s sprawling government structure contributed.
With the rapidly expanding homeless numbers came “this explosion of funds, explosions of organizations and everyone was learning at the same time. And then on top of that ... the pandemic hit,” Kuhn said. “Everyone across the globe was frozen.”
Another problem: Finding consensus among the disparate government agencies, advocacy groups and elected officials in the county.
“The size of Los Angeles makes it incredibly complex,” Kuhn added.
In search of a fix, building the app
Better Angels conducted over 200 interviews with caseworkers, data experts, managers and others involved in homeless programs as part of developing their software. They found startling gaps: For example, no one is measuring how effective the system is at getting people off the street and into housing and services.
One of the biggest challenges: Getting governments and service groups to participate, even though Better Angels will donate its software to those in L.A. county.
“Everything is safe, everything is secure, everything is uploaded, everything is available,” Goldin said.
But “it’s very difficult to get people to do things differently,” he added. “The more people that use it, the more useful it will be.”
veryGood! (85)
Related
- Justice Department, Louisville reach deal after probe prompted by Breonna Taylor killing
- Here's how Lionel Messi, Inter Miami can win second title together as early as Wednesday
- Kentucky sues Express Scripts, alleging it had a role in the deadly opioid addiction crisis
- Lizzo Makes First Public Appearance Since Sharing Weight Loss Transformation
- British swimmer Adam Peaty: There are worms in the food at Paris Olympic Village
- Love is Blind's Marshall Glaze and Fiancée Chay Barnes Break Up Less Than One Year After Engagement
- Kentucky Gov. Beshear seeks resignation of sheriff charged with killing judge
- North Carolina floods: Lake Lure Dam overtops with water, but remains in tact, officials say
- Police remove gator from pool in North Carolina town: Watch video of 'arrest'
- Machine Gun Kelly talks 1 year of sobriety: 'I can forgive myself'
Ranking
- What to watch: O Jolie night
- Bad Bunny Looks Unrecognizable With Hair Transformation on Caught Stealing Set
- King Charles III mourns Maggie Smith after legendary British actress dies at 89
- 2024 Presidents Cup Round 2: Results, matchups, tee times from Friday's golf foursomes
- Federal appeals court upholds $14.25 million fine against Exxon for pollution in Texas
- Christine Sinclair to retire at end of NWSL season. Canadian soccer star ends career at 41
- What to watch: George Clooney, Brad Pitt's howl of fame
- Where Trump and Harris stand on immigration and border security
Recommendation
A steeplechase record at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Then a proposal. (He said yes.)
Beware: 'card declined' message could be the sign of a scam
Celebrity dog Swaggy Wolfdog offers reward for safe return of missing $100,000 chain
'Mighty strange': Tiny stretch of Florida coast hit with 3 hurricanes in 13 months
Man can't find second winning lottery ticket, sues over $394 million jackpot, lawsuit says
Plaintiffs won’t revive federal lawsuit over Tennessee’s redistricting maps
Prince fans can party overnight like it’s 1999 with Airbnb rental of ‘Purple Rain’ house
‘Catastrophic’ Hurricane Helene Makes Landfall in Florida, Menaces the Southeast