Is technology the key to addressing the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles?
LOS ANGELES — LOS ANGELES (AP) — Billions of dollars have been expended on initiatives to relocate unhoused individuals in California, but antiquated computer systems with inaccurate data are frequently unable to offer even basic details like the availability of a shelter bed on a specific night, inefficiencies that can result in serious consequences.
The predicament is particularly severe in Los Angeles, where over 45,000 individuals — many grappling with severe mental illness, substance dependencies, or both — reside in debris-filled encampments that have expanded into almost every locality, and where lines of decaying RVs stretch along entire blocks.
Even in the region that houses Silicon Valley, technology has not kept pace with the enduring dilemma. In an era where anyone can reserve a hotel room or hire a car with a few taps on a mobile device, no system exists that provides a comprehensive directory of accessible shelter beds in Los Angeles County, home to more than 1 in 5 unhoused individuals in the U.S.
Mark Goldin, head technology officer for Better Angels United, a charitable organization, characterized L.A.’s technology as “systems that don’t communicate, absence of precise data, no consensus on what’s authentic and what’s not.”
The systems cannot answer “precisely how many individuals are out there at any given time. Where are they?” he stated.
The repercussions for individuals living on the streets could determine whether someone spends another night outdoors or not, a differentiation that can be life-threatening.
“They are not receiving the services to the individuals at the moment that those individuals either require the service, or are mentally prepared to accept the services,” stated Adam Miller, a technology entrepreneur and CEO of Better Angels.
The issues were apparent at a filthy encampment in the Silver Lake neighborhood of the city, where Sara Reyes, executive director of SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, guided volunteers providing water, socks, and food to unhoused individuals, including one who seemed unconscious.
She distributed postcards with the location of a nearby church where the coalition offers hot food and services. A small dog darted out of a tent, barking frantically, while a disheveled man in a jacket on a scorching hot day shuffled past a stained mattress.
At the conclusion of the visit, Reyes began entering notes into her mobile phone, which would later be transcribed into a coalition spreadsheet and eventually duplicated into a federal database.
“Whenever you transfer it from one form to another, you risk losing data. We know we are not always gaining the complete picture,” Reyes mentioned. The “victims are the people the system is intended to serve.”
The technology has faltered while the unhoused population has surged. Some question how to address an issue without reliable data to understand the magnitude of it? An annual count of unhoused individuals in the city recently indicated a slight decrease in the population, but some experts doubt the precision of the data, and tents and encampments are visible almost everywhere.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has identified deficiencies with technology as one of the challenges she encounters in homelessness initiatives and has characterized the city’s endeavors to alleviate the crisis as “constructing the plane while flying it.”
She disclosed earlier this year that three to five unhoused individuals perish each day on the streets of L.A.
On Thursday, Gov. Gavin Newsom directed state agencies to commence eliminating unhoused encampments on state land in his most bold action following a Supreme Court ruling permitting cities to enforce prohibitions on sleeping outside in public spaces.
There is currently no standardized procedure for caseworkers to gather and input information into databases on the unhoused individuals they interact with, including handwritten notes. The outcome: Details can be misplaced or recorded inaccurately, and it quickly becomes outdated with the delay between interactions and data entry.
The primary federal data system, known as the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, was devised as a desktop application, making it challenging to operate on a mobile device.
“One of the reasons the data is so inaccurate is because what the case managers do by necessity is they take notes, either on their phones or on scrap pieces of paper or they just try to remember it, and they don’t typically input it until they get back to their desk” hours, days, a week or even longer afterward, Miller expressed.
Every organization that coordinates services for unhoused individuals utilizes an HMIS program to adhere to data collection and reporting standards mandated by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. However, the systems are not all congruent.
Sam Matonik, associate director of data at L.A.-based People Assisting the Homeless, a significant service provider, mentioned his organization is among those that must reinput data because Los Angeles County uses a proprietary data system that does not interface with the HMIS system.
“Once you’re manually double-entering things, it opens the door for all sorts of errors,” Matonik remarked. “Small numerical errors are the difference between somebody having shelter and not.”
Bevin Kuhn, acting deputy chief of analytics for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the agency that coordinates unhoused housing and services in Los Angeles County, conveyed that efforts are ongoing to establish a database of 23,000 beds by the conclusion of the year as part of technology enhancements.
For case managers, “just seeing … the general bed availability is challenging,” Kuhn stated.
Among other alterations is a revamp of the HMIS system to make it more compatible with mobile applications and developing a method to assess if timely data is being entered by case workers, Kuhn mentioned.
It’s not unusual for a field worker to encounter an unhoused individual in crisis who requires immediate attention, which can lead to delays in collecting data. Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority aims for data to be entered in the system within 72 hours, but that benchmark is not consistently met.
In anticipation of bridging the gap, Better Angels assembled a team experienced in constructing large-scale software applications. They are developing a mobile-friendly prototype for outreach workers — to be gifted to participating groups in Los Angeles County — that will be succeeded by systems for shelter operators and a comprehensive shelter bed database.
Since unhoused individuals are transient and elusive for follow-up services, one feature would generate a map of locations where an individual had been encountered, enabling case managers to narrow the search.
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