GPS Tracking of Homeless Volunteers
13 Nov 2014Odense, the third largest city in Denmark, has come up with an ingenious plan to track the whereabouts and congregation of the homeless population through the use of GPS tracking devices.
The plan is simple, homeless volunteers agree to carry the tracking device in their pockets for one week in exchange for three warm meal vouchers in exchange.
The small pilot program involves 20 volunteers and will specifically gather data on the places where the homeless eat and sleep as well as how they live.
Why is Odense going to all this trouble?
The GPS devices allow city planners to observe the normal activities of the homeless in hopes that they can provider shelters, coffee rooms, and warming areas in locations where they are needed most.
This also helps social workers know where the people who need their help most are generally located. In a city that had nearly 6,000 homeless in 2013 – 1,349 of which were between the ages of 18 and 24 (nearly double the homeless population in this age group from the year before), these services are sorely needed.
The idea of the program for the city of Odense is so that groups and organizations who want to help the city’s vulnerable homeless population know where to go to offer the services they have available including things like food, blankets, coats, health screenings, and ore.
The program offers a great deal of promise including for groups and organizations interested in building shelters in areas where they are needed most – and creating safer places for the homeless to gather.
Some have questioned the ethics of this particular pilot program. The small scale and completely voluntary nature of the program, however, make it largely benign. It is far less harmful or exploitative than attempts other cities are making to help curb or cull the homeless populations, or exploit them, within those cities.
The way the city sees it, the participants are receiving much-needed nourishment in exchange for participating while the city is receiving valuable data. It’s a mutually beneficial experience that promises better long-term services for the homeless throughout the city in years to come.
What Kind of GPS trackers are being used?
The technology involved in this pilot program is the same type of technology used to track dementia patients who have habits of wandering off and getting lost.
While it isn’t unheard of to use GPS tracking devices to keep track of people, Odense council member Tom Rodding believes it’s the first time this technology has been used to track people for this purpose. He goes on to say, “As far as I know, this has never been tried anywhere else in the world before.”
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