Homeless Link has been awarded a Salesforce Accelerator – Agents for Impact grant to develop AI for homelessness case management, and they are now exploring what it could look like in practice with three organisations piloting the functionality, and what it might mean for the frontline workers and organisations they support.
Frontline staff in homelessness services typically spend 30-50% of their working day on administration. Case notes, referral paperwork, reporting - the list goes on. In a sector that’s already under enormous pressure, that’s a huge amount of time that isn’t spent directly with the vulnerable people who need support.
In-Form is working toward solutions that will help organisations to have:
- Significantly less time spent on routine documentation and admin
- More time for direct client work
- Better quality and consistency in record-keeping
- Faster onboarding for new staff joining a service
- Richer data to support reporting, funding bids and outcomes measurement
- A reduction in staff burnout
In-Form is used by hundreds of homelessness organisations across the UK, which means that what they build could eventually reach tens of thousands of frontline workers.
Matt Harrison, Deputy CEO of Homeless Link, said “Reducing admin in homelessness services feels important right now.
“Workers in the sector are asking for the time and space to do their jobs well.
“That’s what we’re trying to build. Not a replacement for the relationships and judgement that make great case work possible, but something that takes the repetitive, draining admin burden off people’s plates so they can focus on what they’re actually there to do.
“Ending homelessness takes systems change. It takes services with good enough data to understand what’s working and what isn’t.
“Technology can play a real role in all of that. We’re building with that in mind.
“It’s really exciting to have three organisations already trialing our initial AI functionality.”
