Winnipeg's shelters test tech-based solution to helping the homeless

When the temperatures drop and the cold winds blow, a new database is helping Winnipeg's shelters get the city's most vulnerable into warm beds.

Winnipeg is the second city in the country to try a program called the Homeless Individuals and Families Information System.

"It's boring, it's a database. But what it can do for the community is really cool," said Mark Stewart, residential services co-ordinator at the Salvation Army.

The web-based software is shared between Siloam Mission, the Salvation Army and Main Street Project.

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Winnipeg police said cold weather may have been a factor in the death of a 53-year-old woman on Sunday who was found unconscious on the ground in the 300 block of Portage Avenue after a night when the wind chill dropped to –32.

"If you're using a system like this maybe it'll minimize those types of things and I think that's what we're trying to do more than anything," Stewart said.

The shelters started using the database in November and now, at any point in the day, they can look at a computer screen and see how full each shelter is. For example, if Siloam Mission is filling up but Salvation is only half full, staff know immediately that they can transfer people over.

"It's really beneficial because it's this cold out," Stewart said. "We still use the phone and call people and make sure people aren't being turned away, but right now the priority is just making sure that everybody is in a warm place and they're safe and they do not have to be outside."

Implementing the free software from Human Resources and Skills Development Canada took two years of planning between the three shelters and the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg. The organizations had to decide what information would be shared and who had access to it.

Stewart said it currently shows the percentage of beds filled in the shelters and the clients' personal information is not shared with other agencies. General information is still collected from the client, including name, birthday and emergency contacts, but they will have the option of whether or not that and other information, like case management, is shared with the other shelters.

Another feature is an internal broadcast that alerts all shelters about issues, like if someone is behaving dangerously.

At Main Street Project staff are still getting trained on the program and it will be fully implemented in January. Viktoria Westgate, MSP director of addictions and integrated services, said it will also help with case work like keeping track of medical needs and past stays in shelters.  

"Clients are very transient, they go from one shelter to another. So for example, if [someone] left their [medicine] behind, we'll be able to see if they're in another shelter," she said.

The database will help the shelters work together which helps the people using them, Westgate added.

"We're all trying to do the same thing. We're here to help."