Smart Cities - Life Intentions

Disconnection from services and the impact of stigma on individuals with lived experience of homelessness or at-risk of homelessness are two obstacles each person faces. The Smart Cities – Life Intentions initiative will explore opportunities to alleviate the effects of these two issues, and will provide vulnerable individuals with a unique opportunity to:

1. Identify how they would like to move along their preferred life path within housing; health & wellness; legal & advocacy; education, skills & training; employment & volunteering; and/or community & belonging domains;
2. Better navigate the homelessness service system by reviewing an array of support services and opportunities narrowed down by personal preferences using a best-fit matching algorithm;
3. Develop and track goal progress with brief motivational enhancement exercises.

Building on the success of the Life Intentions Action Plan and Companion Guide to Services paper tools, the mobile and web apps will provide additional features including an ability to provide reminders and rewards; ensure a best-fit match between individual preferences and services; and store assessments, service utilization, and progress tracking in a secure database.

Read the Business CaseREAD THE TECHNICAL APPENDIX

The Paper Tools

Streetohome has created, focus tested and piloted two paper tools that are now available in Vancouver (i.e., families, individuals, support workers, hospitals, police, libraries, outreach teams, addiction treatment and recovery programs, foster care, corrections and people new to Vancouver).

The first tool – Life Intentions Action Plan – provides an opportunity for individuals to self-assess their goals in multiple domains. The tools are intended to be self-administered, although some individuals may require assistance. Individuals are provided with an opportunity to identify a focus for today and work through a goal setting, motivation enhancement and progress tracking exercise.

DOWNLOAD Life Intentions Action Plan

The second tool – Companion Guide to Services – provides a list of resources in Vancouver that can help individuals move along their preferred life path. A template is available for other municipalities wanting to develop a similar guide – please contact Arielle at [email protected] to receive the template. Streetohome collaborates with Social Justice Practicum students at Adler University to populate the Guide to Services and keep the information current.

DOWNLOAD Companion Guide to Services