An example of an accessible, free tool for the unsheltered homeless to find temporary shelter is one offered by the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD).

“If you need a safe place to stay, the HUD Find Shelter tool can help. This free online resource from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) connects people with emergency shelters, food pantries, health clinics, and other services. Whether you are homeless, at risk of losing your housing, or in an emergency, this tool helps you find real, verified assistance near you.”

Once on the site, a shelter tool has you enter the geographic location you are looking for, displays a list of shelter options nearby with a phone number, and a link to the shelter’s website for a detailed description of feature including photos of shelter
spaces, and admission availability & requirements (e.g., whether can bring drugs, pets). https://affordablehousingheroes.com/find-emergency-shelter-fast-how-to-use-huds-find-shelter-tool/

Clearly, this intervention is one using strong strategy: Product (a service), Price (free), and Place (online via mobile phone or computers).

What is also encouraging is that National Library of Medicine studies find that between 44% and 62% of the homeless populations have access to a mobile phone. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3969124/

Perhaps what we are missing is more of the Promotion tool.

 

Photo by https://affordablehousingheroes.com/find-emergency-shelter-fast-how-to-use-huds-find-shelter-tool/