The What I Need (WIN) App

Housing and Homelessness

County of Los Angeles

Expand existing project, program, or initiative

The February 2022 Homeless Count reported over 65,000 unhoused persons living in LA County. While homelessness dropped slightly among certain populations, homelessness rose among some of our community's most vulnerable - specifically youth, seniors, and families. Homelessness affects minorities disproportionately, the 2022 LA County Homeless Count reporting more than 74% were people of color. The number of homeless children and families reported by the LA County Office of Education is grim with over 52,000 students experiencing homelessness in the 2021-2022 school year. Surveys by the California State Chancellor's Office reported that 10% of California State University students are homeless or severely resource insecure which translates into 11,433 struggling Cal State students in LA County. Regional community college students are experiencing homelessness at even higher rates. In addition, over 14% of LA county residents are living poverty and at risk of falling into homelessness.

The free, confidential What I Need (WIN) Mobile App Program empowers those who are homeless or struggling to avoid homelessness to find the supportive services they need to make positive changes in their lives. Leveraging the Federal Lifeline Phone program, responsible for the widespread availability of smartphones among impoverished populations, WIN is available in app stores and online, can be used in English and Spanish, and includes programs serving vulnerable individuals and families of all ages, including youth and seniors. Navigating the web of supportive services available for those who are experiencing homelessness or severe resource-insecurity is complex, especially for those who are newly homeless or who are struggling to avoid homelessness. The WIN app empowers unhoused and housing insecure populations to easily find and connect to over 2,300 programs in 12 categories of services. Users can also receive alerts about free community events. WIN outreach is designed to build trust as the populations it serves are hard to reach and wary of external influences. Outreach programs reach deeply into high need communities and colleges by leveraging the support of place-based nonprofits, schools, and governments. OCLA also deploys bilingual staff to educate about WIN, aid needy populations in directly connecting to supportive services, and soon, to raise awareness of OCLA's new housing survey tool, accessible via WIN, where users can determine their own HUD eligibility.

Unlike system-driven support tools, WIN was developed to empower users to find help for themselves. If we are successful, all unhoused and resource insecure individuals/families will know about WIN and understand how to use it to make positive changes in their lives. WIN impact is measured by increased and widespread WIN usage including an increase in new user downloads, WIN searches, and WIN usage around the county. The HUD housing survey will support the ability of users to learn if they qualify for HUD housing and enable them to advocate for themselves. Launching in August 2023 with outreach on four community college campuses, expansion is planned to scale to other campuses in 2024. HUD survey impact will be measured by the number of surveys submitted as well as reports from college campus peer navigators on whether students access housing. Expansion/long-term scaling plans include growing outreach in high need communities and developing outreach specifically for Spanish speakers.

OCLA measures the impact of WIN and outreach by collecting general usage data, user endorsements, community outreach efforts, and the number of partners promoting WIN. Based on principles of social equity and respect for user privacy/dignity, WIN was designed for anonymous usage, with collection of limited aggregated data. 2022 impact/usage records: Online searches for help, 26,941 (158% increase over 2021); new downloads, 7,558 (189% increase); calls to providers through WIN, 3,051; and user searches from all LA cities. An analysis of Palmdale-led outreach demonstrated a 660% increase in WIN usage once city-wide outreach began. In 2022, 28 partner agencies worked with OCLA to raise awareness in their communities about WIN. Most recently, WIN starting users if the app helped them, with OCLA tracking results. Finally, the HUD survey will be measured by the number of student survey takers and reports from campus peer navigators on the number of students who actually apply for housing.