The homeless now find internet access essential to survival
Karloz Daugherty makes his living persuading people to donate money on the iPad he holds in his hands. The 23-year-old delivers his pitch with an energetic air, periodically flashing a slightly crooked smile as he explains Amnesty International's commitment to fighting for human rights across the globe.
When his eight-hour shift as a canvasser is over, he clocks out using his cell phone and catches the bus back to Santa Monica. But he doesn't return to a house, an apartment or even a friend's couch. He sleeps on the beach, where he said he's laid his head every night since he arrived in California earlier this year.
"I honestly think I live through my phone."
-Karloz Daugherty
Daugherty is among the tens of thousands in Los Angeles experiencing homelessness. The 2018 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count reports that there are nearly 53,000 homeless individuals in the county. More than 70 percent of them are unsheltered, meaning they do not have a safe, indoor space to sleep.
Even with a steady paycheck, Daugherty said he finds the cost of living in LA too high. He lives on the beach. He showers and does his laundry at the Ocean Park Community Center a dozen or so blocks away.
Tech experts offer skills to end homelessness
But the LA homeless count makes that difficult read more
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Tech experts want to use their skills to end homelessness
Last month, more than two dozen volunteer coders and statisticians answered a call for help from experts who analyze homelessness data.
Those experts - statisticians at an LA-based nonprofit called Economic Roundtable - spent months analyzing the annual homeless counts provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). They then published a study called "Escape Routes," which aimed at providing broad-based solutions to escaping homelessness, including debunking long-held stigmas about homelessness.
"I think people have a lot of preconceptions about homelessness - things like, you know, everyone on the street is mentally ill, everyone has a drug and alcohol problem, and the data really doesn't support that," said Economic Roundtable research statistician Jane Carlen, who helped organize the data dive.
Earlier this year, Carlen and her colleagues at Economic Roundtable were contacted by DataKind, which organizes meetups between nonprofit groups and civically-minded coders across the country. This summer, researchers from the "Escape Routes" study worked with DataKind to host a two-day workshop, called a "data dive" for homelessness. There, volunteers with experience in data science could work alongside researchers from Economic Roundtable to make the LAHSA data more accessible and more effective.
Volunteer coders and statisticians suggest better collection methods and ways to apply the numbers for positive change. Download the video here
Gaps in the numbers
While preparing the "Escape Routes" study, Carlen and Economic Roundtable President Daniel Flaming noticed that the LAHSA numbers only account for how many people are homeless on a given night - not how many people experience homelessness in a year. Their goal with the data dive was to use those existing numbers to understand how many people are homeless in a year.
But, in the process of organizing the LAHSA numbers in preparation for this summer's data dive, Economic Roundtable intern Paul Beeman realized that inconsistent collection methods across years made comparing data from year-to-year a challenge.
"The most surprising pieces of data I usually see are related to inconsistencies year-to-year in the surveys that generate them, Beeman said. "Without consistent data collection, we can't compare year-to-year."
That means the LAHSA homeless count is inconsistent, which makes it harder to predict how the population changes each year, Beeman said.
According to Beeman, subtle word changes in survey questions are inevitable and necessary. The problem, he said, is when there are "arbitrary" and large-scale changes that make it impossible to compare this year's numbers with last year's.
"For example, if they ask about how long someone's been homeless for, they'll have four options and the options [on the number of months] will change year-to-year from '6 to 11' to '7 to 11' - that's an arbitrary change," Beeman said. "That's an oversight issue."
Carlen confirmed that view. "There is unquestionably changes in the survey wording which impacts the results."
She attributes those inconsistencies to a lack of attention on LAHSA's part to how the data might be compared from year-to-year. "It's not really in their purview to compare year-to-year in depth," she said.
Without a consistent collection method for the homeless count, analyzing and evaluating those numbers becomes a lot more difficult, according to Beeman. "It's a huge waste of resources and I think it's because, to no fault of their own, there's maybe not a full understanding of the data."
The two-day workshop attempted to work around those inconsistencies, in order to come updating
with formulas that could compensate for such gaps in the count.
Using data more effectively
Carlen said that when she looks at the numbers, she sees key places for resources to be distributed so that people don't continue to experience cycles of homelessness.
Something that sticks out to her, she said, is the high correlation between incarceration and homelessness. According to the "Escape Routes" study, more than 50 percent of men and 40 percent of women experiencing homelessness were once incarcerated.
"It just strikes me as a very opportune time to intervene," Carlen said.
"We don't need to go out and find people. The need is obvious. And yet we just send people back out on the street to then repeat the cycle," she said.
Carlen hoped the data dive would spark coders' and statisticians' interest in civically minded project, and help them understand that their projects can create change with positive outcomes.
"Highlighting the fact that that the annualized population of people who are homeless in LA is much larger than the point-in-time population [...] is a good example of how the data can be useful in understanding the issue and potentially advocating for more resources," Carlen said.
-Story by Sophie-Marie Prime. Video and photo by Brooke Thames.
He said he uses his Google Pixel 2 daily to catch up on news and text his sister, who lives in Alaska with the rest of his family. Google helps him find places to eat, like the restaurant-style homeless kitchen in Venice called Bread & Roses.
"I honestly think I live through my phone," he said.
A 2017 University of Southern California study suggests that rates of cell phone ownership and internet use among the homeless match that of the general population. Lead researcher and USC Research Professor Harmony Rhoades said reliable, affordable access to the internet is a necessity for everyone in today's society-especially for those who are homeless.
"Everyone is deserving of this sort of technology access, even more so once you've experienced trauma and vulnerability like this. It's not a luxury to have a cell phone in our society," Rhoades said. "Particularly, when you are in the midst of something like homelessness where one phone call might be the one that sends you back home, the one that gets you a place to stay that night, the one that gets you the lead for a job. It really is a lifeline for this population and not something that we should think about as optional."
Karloz Daugherty, homeless Amnesty International canvasser
One person's lifeline
The internet is Daugherty's lifeline. He said his cell phone data plan allows him to maintain contact with his employers, helps him navigate LA and keeps him connected to the world.
Daugherty pays for his $90 unlimited data plan with the $1,500 he earns monthly as a canvasser. It's a job that requires technology nearly as much as his personal life. Daugherty attests that the iPad he uses is essential to signing people up faster than the old clipboard and pen method.
"I wouldn't have a job if I didn't have the internet or technology," he said.
Looking for a job
You're going to need some tech, first read more
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Internet access puts job seekers on the fast-track
It's 3 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon and Felice Kaplan has spent most of her day at the Wells Fargo Career Development Center at the West Los Angeles Library.
She uses the center for free access to computers and internet to search and apply for jobs as often as she can.
"Sometimes they let me sit for five hours and they don't kick me out! Without them, I don't really know what I would do," says Kaplan, 57.
Her past jobs include being a special events staff member at L.A. Live and she says that access to websites like Craigslist, Indeed and LinkedIn help her stay aware of job fairs that offer similar ready-to-fill positions.
"There's two job fairs I'm going to for Staples Center..." Kaplan says, "[I'm going] to see Lebron James hopefully at practice and Bruno Mars."
While she aspires to see celebrities, she knows she must find work quickly to help pay for the West LA apartment where she lives with her son, but computer and internet access is critical for her job search and application process.
"It's not like the old days, I can't just fill out an application and get a stamp to mail it," Kaplan says. "The computer makes the difference. That's where I find the jobs."
According to the The 2018 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, almost 50 percent of those experiencing homelessness for the first time said it was due to job loss or other financial reasons. Stories like Kaplan's show how access to technology - like computers and the internet - is becoming a fast-track to finding jobs.
For Robert Davies, 50, access to technology was key to finding a fulltime job.
Homeless just a few years ago, Davies knows how quickly life can change.
Shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Davies suffered a severe accident that left him hospitalized for seven months and eventually unemployed.
"Because I'm not from Los Angeles, I didn't know that many people and I didn't have a lot of friends," Davies says. "I stayed with a few of the friends that I could while I was getting back on my feet, but then that runs out."
He ended up at a city shelter while looking for work and like Kaplan, credits access to technology for finding his current job.
Throughout his job search, Davies owned both a computer and a cellphone that enabled him to discover current job openings and connect with potential employers.
Now gainfully employed as a sales representative, he understands how different his situation would have been without access to technology.
"Once you get the interview, they want you to give them a resume," Davies says, "then they want to contact you. So, if you don't have a computer, you don't have internet, have access to a resume and you may not have a cell phone, how do they follow up with you?"
Mark Edwards, 55, is the vice president of government relations for JVS SoCal, a workforce development nonprofit in Los Angeles. He agrees that technology is a point of entry for employment and says that it's up to those in the workforce development sector to facilitate a stronger relationship between access to technology and employment.
"Technology presents opportunity for people to get employment, it's just a matter of building up the infrastructure to create the pipeline to actually help people get into those jobs," Edwards says.
His work involves increasing access to and awareness of employment-related services to those critically at risk of becoming homeless and those who have already fallen into homelessness, the key is timeliness.
"If we don't catch you within a specific period of time, then it becomes harder and harder to get you out of being homeless," Edwards says.
While information for the nonprofit's free career training programs, resume workshops and job placement services can be found on fliers and bulletin boards at local libraries, Edwards shares that the agency's website is still their fastest way to reach job seekers.
"We're in the process of updating our website to make it more user friendly," Edwards says. "We want to make sure that when they look up 'job search,' JVS SoCal pops up, they go on to our site and we can begin to get them engaged in the process."
A 2017 study by a nonprofit research organization found that 70% of the total homeless population was unemployed. Additionally, nearly one quarter are looking for jobs.
-By Susie Plascencia
For his particular job, having access to the internet marks the difference between a paycheck and a pink slip. Amnesty canvassers use a smartphone messaging app called GoupMe to receive location assignments and chat with each other while on the job. All working hours must be logged on a payroll app called Paycom.
Daugherty recalls an older fellow employee whose flip phone put him at a serious disadvantage because he couldn't use these apps.
"It was too hard to get ahold of him. It was too hard to [electronically] add him to group tasks and stuff like that. That definitely affected his life," Daugherty said.
Daugherty secured his job with Amnesty International four days after arriving in LA. He used Indeed, a world-wide employment search engine, to submit his resume online.
From luxury to necessity
Daugherty said he was 14 the last time he used a paper application to apply for a job.
At the Robert Louis Stevenson Library in Boyle Heights, Senior Librarian Lupie Leyva said homeless individuals use computers daily to look for jobs online and work on digital resumes.
In her experience, it seems the majority of jobs nowadays require an online application. Leyva has helped a number of homeless individuals navigate job listings, resource websites and social media platforms online. In today's society, Leyva said she's convinced internet access is not merely a privilege or a luxury. It's a necessity.
"The internet, that's my number one resource even before I was homeless."
-Robert Davies, salesman and formerly homeless
"Maybe if you live out in the forest, you don't need technology. But if you're going to be surviving in a modern city, you do need technology," she said. "That's how you access housing. That's how you access, oftentimes, banking. That's how you access jobs."
Felice Kaplan is unemployed and critically at risk for becoming homeless. She said the internet helps her quickly apply for a multitude of jobs, certainly more than she would be able to apply for if she were searching for work offline.
"You can go on there for hours and literally fill out 50 different applications, ten jobs an hour for five hours," she said. "In real life, if you didn't have the computer, maybe you'd only find one or two."
Robert Davies, who was homeless and now works as a sales representative, said the internet is essential to forging relationships with potential employers.
"If you don't have a computer, internet, [...] access to a resume and you may not have a cell phone, how do they follow up with you?" Davies said. "Technology to me, the use of the internet, that's my number one resource even before I was homeless."
"It's not a luxury to have a cell phone in our society," said USC Research Professor Harmony Rhoades.
Davies and Daugherty are two of the many who have maintained access to the internet while homeless, the USC technology study shows.
The technology study surveyed 421 homeless adults moving into permanent supportive housing in the Los Angeles or Long Beach areas. The adults were 54 years old on average and mostly black males. Among this homeless sample, 94 percent had owned a cell phone in the three months prior to the study.
Rhoades said those moving into housing from homelessness are some of the most vulnerable. These individuals, she said, often suffer from serious physical and mental health conditions and have been experiencing chronic homelessness.
"From my perspective, if this sample is using technology at such high rates, likely the larger sample of people experiencing homelessness is as well," Rhoades said.
Half of the homeless participants in the study used their cell phones to access the internet. Internet usage among the homeless sample was higher than the general population of the same age demographic. Rhoades contributes these high rates to necessity.
"The context of homelessness is going to necessitate something to keep you connected with the broader world in a way that might not be true of older adults who are housed," she said.
More than 50 percent of the study's participants owned smartphones. Thomas Byrne, a Professor of Social Welfare Policy at Boston University, said smartphones particularly open the door for homeless individuals to gain upward mobility.
"You can do job applications off smartphones [...] and you can provide information to people about services and so forth," he said. "It's a tool we have to think about using."
Daugherty says his job depends on his smartphone.
Although internet usage was high, safe and reliable access to free internet proved to be a struggle for the sampled homeless. Cost of using non-Wi-Fi internet and lack of free Wi-Fi in shelters keeps the homeless disconnected, Rhoades said.
With his data plan, Daugherty doesn't need to access free Wi-Fi, but he knows other homeless individuals who do. He said he notices a large concentration of homeless people spending time around the Starbucks where he charges his phone every morning.
Accessing charging outlets in restaurants and cafes, Daugherty said, can be a challenge for many homeless individuals. He said he's seen places of business deliberately prevent those who appear to be homeless from charging their phones inside.
"If somebody with a million dollars was out and they needed to charge their phone for a business thing, where would they go? They would go to Starbucks. So, why can't [a homeless person] who needs their phone to find a job or call their family to let them know they're all right have that same privilege?" he said.
Beyond work, Daugherty's cell phone keeps him up-to-date on current events. He likes to be well-informed, and said he didn't know what was going on in the world until he started reading via the internet.
His phone also connects him with his family, who reside out of state. He calls his mother at least once a week.
Rhoades identifies the ability to connect to family, friends and social support workers as a priority among the homeless population.
"It's very easy to make those arguments thinking about looking for employment, looking for benefits, but also just the importance of connecting to social support. To family members, to friends, to all of those things the rest of us, I think, take for granted that we do with technology." she said. "Even if it just seems like they're playing or sending text messages to family, I think having a cell phone and internet access is really important."
Finding loved ones
Social media helps the homeless connect read more
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Finding loved ones
The year before he died, Tim Spires saw his daughter for the first time in 17 years. He was living on the streets of San Francisco at the time.
Spires and his daughter were reunited by Mark Askins, a licensed private investigator. Askins volunteers for an organization called Miracle Messages, a nonprofit dedicated to reconnecting homeless individuals with their estranged loved ones. More often than not, Askins said, this process does not require his formal training but a thorough search on Facebook.
Tim Spires's original message to his daughter.
Courtesy of Miracle Messages. Download the video here.
Askins asked Spires the question he believes every person experiencing homelessness should be asked, "Is there anyone you would like to be in touch with but don't know how to reach?"
Miracle Messages presents this question in hopes of helping homeless people nurture their own relationships. Learning to use social media can help build confidence and provide homeless people with the basic information necessary to reach out to loved ones for support and connection.
Within minutes of learning of Spires's daughter, Askins and the Miracle Messages team found her mother in Florida and her half-brother in New York.The next night the team reached out to her on Facebook.
Spires's daughter agreed to connect with her estranged father. Within a matter of weeks Askins helped Spires make his own Facebook account as a means of regularly communicating with her.
Lupie Leyva, a Senior Librarian at the Robert Louis Stevenson Library in Boyle Heights, said she is not surprised that Facebook was key in connecting the family.
"People are usually on Facebook and it's fairly easy to get a hold of someone, even if you're not their 'friend,'" Leyva said.
She believes that social media provides a way for people who are currently homeless to connect to loved ones without the anxiety of disclosing their situation.
Leyva doesn't make any assumptions about the patrons of her library. She is quick to mention that one can never guess who is homeless. Leyva has been surprised to learn that patrons who don't "appear" to be homeless have been living on the streets for months. She says she feels honored to have personal relationships with homeless library patrons who choose to share their stories with her and ask for her help.
Leyva remembers forming a relationship with a woman living in her car outside of the branch. The woman visited the library every day for several months. She was issued a courtesy card, an alternative to a library card for individuals who don't have proof of a permanent address but do have a photo ID. Those without a photo ID can use any city library's free Wi-Fi or log onto the computers twice a day for 15 minutes at a time.
With her courtesy card, the woman living in her car was able to make reservations to use the library computer for two hours at a time. The woman spent most of her time on Facebook chatting with her daughters who live out of state. According to Leyva, the homeless woman "used Facebook because Facebook is a constant."
Miracle Messages has taken full advantage of Facebook's accessibility. Volunteers have found it to be the most effective method for connecting homeless people like Tim Spires to their loved ones.
Before his death, Tim Spires said that reconnecting with his daughter through Miracle Messages was the best thing that was ever going to happen to him. Access to social media made that possible.
-By Rebecca Ressler
The purpose of the study was to understand how mobile devices keep the homeless connected, from caseworkers to facebook friends.
"Actually, what just looks like screwing around on Facebook is probably really helpful for them because it's helping them maintain ties outside of the street context," Rhoades said.
Daugherty maintains a robust social media presence with Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts. Whether he's tweeting his thoughts on human rights or uploading his resume to job sites like Indeed, Daugherty challenges the stigma of a person experiencing homelessness.
He doesn't call himself homeless, but said he likes to think of himself as a vagabond instead.
"Because 'vagabond' isn't a word everybody knows, they'll ask me what [it] is and I get to describe it my way instead of saying, 'Oh, I'm homeless,'" he said. "Then a stigma just jumps into their head."
Daugherty describes a vagabond as someone who's wandering and simply doesn't have a steady place to sleep at night.
The tweet pinned to the top of his profile page reads:
I am an earthling, a human male, a vagabond, a fighter of freedoms. I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. #IDefineMe
Story by Brooke Thames, reporting by Sophie-Marie Prime, Susie Plascencia, Rebecca Ressler, and Nicholas Yekikian. Photos by Sophie-Marie Prime. Web Development by Nicholas Yekikian.