$3.4 million software program system will accumulate knowledge like what number of unhoused dwell within the county
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY — There will probably be a brand new approach to accumulate homelessness knowledge in San Luis Obispo County after Supervisors unanimously accepted investing in a $3.4 million software program system on the Tuesday, August 8 assembly. The brand new expertise goals to revolutionize the best way knowledge is collected and managed concerning unhoused people inside the county.
With District 1 Supervisor John Peschong absent, Supervisors voted 4-0 for the brand new software program, which is able to accumulate knowledge like what number of unhoused dwell within the county and what companies they use often.
“Measuring the extent and understanding the character of homelessness is crucial to combating it,” stated San Luis Obispo County Homeless Providers Supervisor Joe Dzvonik.
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The county has been repeatedly on the lookout for methods to handle homelessness. Many agreed that the extra they know concerning the homeless neighborhood right here, the higher they are often addressed. As a part of the county’s five-year plan, they’re aiming to scale back homelessness in half by 2027.
“The aptitude growth proven right here is nothing in need of revolutionary,” stated Dzvonik. “It permits our service suppliers to speak quickly and precisely in a method by no means seen earlier than on this county.”
The driving pressure behind the brand new software program is the necessity for a extra complete and environment friendly knowledge administration system. The present system, as described by Dzvonik, lacks the capability to trace the whole journey of an unhoused — from their preliminary entry into homelessness to accessing companies and, ideally, discovering housing. This creates a disjointed method, the place service suppliers wrestle to assemble and analyze consumer knowledge successfully. Janna Nichols, the manager director of the 5 Cities Homeless Coalition, says that current knowledge entry redundancies eat treasured time that might be higher utilized.
“In the long run, there’s so many financial savings,” stated Supervisor Daybreak Ortiz-Legg, whereas acknowledging the excessive price ticket for the software program. “There’s simply an enormous loop of having the ability to assist one another whereas serving to people.”
The multi-million-dollar funding, Homeless Providers Info Administration System (HSIMS) developed by Bitfocus and Institute for Neighborhood Alliances, goals to streamline that knowledge assortment, evaluation, and communication throughout varied businesses and organizations. Nichols famous the present difficulties of service staff having to enter the identical knowledge for every consumer into 4 totally different databases. Including to the communication difficulties, businesses are unable to view one another’s knowledge making it troublesome to collaborate with different businesses.
The brand new software program system will permit service suppliers to entry a unified platform, eliminating the necessity for getting into the identical knowledge a number of instances and permitting for a broader image of a person’s wants.
District 5 Supervisor Debbie Arnold agreed that the brand new software program is a obligatory expense for the county, “This board has accepted roughly $33 million now in funding for housing homeless … it’s costly to get these good packages up and working.”
The subsequent San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors assembly is scheduled for Tuesday, August 22, at 9 a.m.
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