Use of GIS in the Homeless Initiative

Objective

San Bernardino County is committed to ending chronic homelessness and reduce the instance of episodic homelessness in the County of San Bernardino. To this end, the Innovation and Technology Department (ITD) has developed data collection and visualization applications for the Sheriff’s Transitional Assistance Reentry Team (START) and the Homeless Outreach Proactive Enforcement (HOPE) team.

Technology Being Used

ITD has developed the following applications:

Esri, Survey123 digital form for Sheriff’s START Team

This app allows START to rapidly collect information from inmates in the County’s correctional facilities that are likely to be homeless upon release.  This information is used to assist the inmates when they are ready to transition back into their communities.  The app has resulted in significant time savings in collecting the data.  This in turn allows the START Team to better prepare inmates for successful reentry to their community.

Esri Dashboard for Sheriff’s START Team

Provides both Sheriff management and START “at a glance” data visualization of the team’s data collection activities.  This allows management to be better aware of the START Teams activities and it also allows START to better manage which inmates need to be visited prior to release.

Esri Collector App For Sheriff’s HOPE Team

This app allows the HOPE team to rapidly and accurately collect information while interacting with the homeless they encounter on the streets.  The data is geo-enabled which allows it to be viewed via maps and also analyzed geographically.