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NYC Tracking Homeless People

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NYC are trying to battle the social problem of homelessness and the NYC mayor is planning to deploy a tool to count every homeless person in the city.

In the hands of workers that reach out to the homeless every day “Street Smart” will help to track health, income, demographics and other figures. The city wants to help collate and build this comprehensive data and get the people the help they need.

Time is needed to build trust with the homeless & “Street Smart” collects data and makes it accessible to multiple social workers who may come in contact with the same person, whilst keeping a homeless persons data/privacy on lock.

The obvious massive advantage to this is the easily accessible data such as a homeless persons behavioral patterns and trouble points, at a worker’s fingertips without having to delve into mountains of paperwork. Plus gives workers a heads up when shelters aren’t giving or offering the help to the homeless that they should, not forgetting the benefit of easily being able to check in on a homeless person if they need help or someone to talk to.

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!

 

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Episode 229 Robo Cat

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No Money No Problem!?

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A homeless guy asks for change and for most of us (even if you don’t like to admit it) we will say “Sorry Mate I have no change” – well that excuse may soon be null and void.

A company from Amsterdam called N=5 have created a jacket that has NFC technology on it that allows you to pay using contactless. So if you do wish to donate to the homeless and you have your card on you, all you have to do is tap your card on to their jacket and voila you’ve donated.

The donations are one Euro per donation and the money can only be redeemed by a user through an official homeless shelter in exchange for a place to sleep or eat.

An employee of N=5 spoke to indy100 and said:

“[Firstly], these days we tend to carry little or no cash at all…..Secondly, most people would like to help the homeless, but they feel that giving money basically goes to supporting addictions. So, we wondered: how we can make it easier for people to help others who need it?

“ The only way to redeem the money received this way is through one of the official homeless shelters. The money never goes to the homeless person as cash, but is always redeemed in kind. This way, it can be spent on a place to sleep, a shower or food. The homeless person can also choose to spend it on self-improvement, like vocational training courses or even in building up savings.”

It’s only in a trial period at this moment in time N=5 hopes to refine the product and get it out on mass to those that need it. 

To listen to the guys chatting about this please click here!