HomeMore

Inspiration

At first, we were observing how the MTA subways are often crowded with homeless people which led to us thinking about why they were there instead of seeking shelters and food places. After interviews, we noticed that some people were simply unaware of where to go nor did they have access to resources that could help. With that knowledge, we decided to build something that would inform them of where they needed to address their specific needs, whether it be food, shelter, or something else.

What it does

HomeMore is a website that contains a map listing various facilities and establishments that homeless people can access for their needs. The user clicks the title of a facility and more information will be listed such as capacity, percentage of capacity filled currently, address, and services provided.

How we built it

HTML, Javascript, and CSS were utilized to create the website. Adobe XD was used for graphic design.

Challenges we ran into

The time limit forced us to rush and the scale of our idea required more time than we were allotted. There were only two programmers on the team which bottlenecked coding. We do not have a perfect perspective of the homeless situation, but we did our best to stay as objective and unbiased as we could.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Even with a low time limit, we were able to prepare a Minimally Viable Product that shows a process for registration and usage with the website.

What we learned

We learned about how to use APIs, specifically the google maps, along with NYC Open Data, Intro to Project Management, the situation regarding homeless people in NYC, Design Thinking, and Pitching101.

What's next for HomeMore

-Future visions: Introduce identification to make sure that only those who need the assistance will receive it

A monitoring system that shows how occupied each location is (have locations report business), perhaps an MTA initiative, create recording system for recording # of people signing in or out

Find what shelters are overstressed & how we can help shelters to improve the conditions

News showing realities of homelessness (human side) to end the stigma…

Filtering requirements to make sure they are eligible

Color coding for color blindness

Simplifying requirements & presenting it clearly

Gain cooperation from restaurants, convenience stores, etc.