What does ICT offer to homelessness organisations?

ICT offers the homelessness sector an avenue to improve service, this can apply to the day-to-day working of staff or to improve service user involvement and skills. Below is a list of the ways that ICT interacts with staff and service users:

Staff and ICT

• Policies and documents
• Record keeping and outcome monitoring
• Communications
• Finance and accounting
• Multimedia
• Resource finding

Service Users and ICT

• Multimedia
• Communications
• Entertainment
• Training and education
• Careers

The digital inclusion study by UKOnline and the Local e-government and Social Inclusion paper by Communities and Local Government have highlighted issues over access to ICT; the concerns raised are not simply involving the width of the digital divide (the numbers of people affected) but with its depth (the degree of their exclusion). As the applications of ICT and the internet become broader and more sophisticated, those left behind now may find it increasingly difficult to catch up in the future. This is particularly pertinent to those who are homeless who have been affected the digitilisation of processes including benefits applications and online banking accounts.

Resources

Our ICT resources offers links to materials and support for funding, training, suppliers, and new media.

This page links to available resources for ICT users.

• Funding options for ICT offers materials to aid costing for funders and targeting corporate organisations for resource support.

• ICT and training gives links to organisations offering ICT based training for homelessness staff and service users.

• Regional ICT offers contacts that support ICT needs for voluntary sector organisations within the nine English regions.

• ICT in practice gives links to useful materials which aid staff and service users in their use of ICT

• Free ICT Software gives links to no-cost software which can support the work of homelessness agencies.

ICT Good Practice Examples

These are case studies of good practice in using ICT by homelessness groups. The examples highlight the way the projects are currently operating, the successes they have had, and the ways in which they have overcome challenges and barriers.