DALLAS (WBBAP/KLIF)- A local non profit that provides homeless services in Dallas created an app that’s being used nation-wide.
Our Calling’s App has a directory of service providers and shelters locally and nationally.
Our Calling Executive Director Lane Walker said first responders use the app to help the homeless find access to vital services.
He said this was especially needed with the recent inclement weather.
“The day after the tornadoes we had teams crawling in the woods in Dallas looking for homeless friends who we knew were camping near where the damage occurred but we also had some homeless individuals who reported their location and said I’m here and need some help,” said Walker.
Walker said about 70% of the Dallas homeless population have cell phones so the app really helps to get them what they need. “It’s now got over 100,00 agencies nation-wide people are using this app every day to find resources and it’s a great opportunity for a little non-profit in Dallas to provide a service to the entire country,” he said.
According to the HUD-required annual homeless Point in Time Count conducted by MDHA, this year Dallas officially has the largest homeless population of any city in the Southern United States.
Dallas hasn’t added any significant infrastructure for those experiencing homelessness in 11 years. Every local homeless shelter is running at capacity, with the streets becoming the only place for people to lay their heads.
With such a gap in resources, first responders are left with few options when called for a welfare check for an individual sleeping outside.
When First responders use the app to report the location and send some preliminary data, OurCalling can then take action and send its Search & Rescue teams to intervene in the homeless man or woman’s life.
“Before we created this there wasn’t a nationwide listing of shelters or food pantries or domestic violence centers so we had to create one,” he said. “It’s been a great community- wide project where people are submitting resources to us and people are using them.”
OurCalling, which is located south of downtown Dallas at 1702 S. Cesar Chavez Blvd., opened this location in spring 2017 and today serves more than 400 homeless a day.
