Abbotsford launches new app to better serve the unhoused

The City of Abbotsford has created a new tool to support people experiencing homelessness.

To aid outreach workers in providing timely services for the unhoused, Abbotsford has launched an app — Community Homelessness Information Application (CHIA), the city said in a release.

“CHIA allows frontline workers to track service delivery in encampments, access real-time bed inventory updates at shelters, and develop historical data to advocate for more resources,” the city said.

This application is supported on mobile, web, and desktop, and improves coordination between service agencies and organizations — ultimately helping people access housing.

The city says this application was developed “in response to the need for service providers to better understand and serve people experiencing homelessness in Abbotsford.”

The application allows service workers to view, input, and update data related to encampments, day sites, sleeping sites, and shelters. The city says this helps create long-term data which aids advocacy efforts for additional resources.

Ross Siemens, Mayor of Abbotsford, says CHIA is invaluable.

“(The tool) will support the work of our City team to develop a robust Coordinated Access System, and improve the way our local service providers respond to and support the most vulnerable in our community,” he said.

Siemens says the real-time data will help front-line workers receive resources efficiently.

“It’s a way for us to ensure that we are touching base. Because then we can see what are the shelter needs, what are some of the housing requirements, what are the healthcare needs if somebody’s in distress…having to have the information. So it really is helping coordinate all those efforts,” he tells CityNews.

The mayor says, since CHIA’s launch it has been able to log nearly 300 site visits by outreach workers — including 141 check-ins and service deliveries at encampments, and 228 individual visits to day sites, says the city.

“Making sure that we have that data so we can go to the provincial government and say ‘this is what we need here, and this will help,” he said.

CHIA helps outreach workers indicate the number of people staying at shelters, and shelter workers to update the occupancy statuses.

“(It) shows the inflow and outflow of people experiencing homelessness and will provide an approximate count for the total number of people living unhoused in Abbotsford at any given time,” the city says.

The city says CHIA is part of its action plan to address homelessness and aligns with its digital strategy to better serve its residents.

With files from Kate Walker.