Tech minds combine for hackathon to help the homeless

The theme of this year’s Homelessness Week (2-8 August) is Everybody Needs a Home, and the Zeroseven team is volunteering their time to help Micah Projects and the Brisbane Alliance to End Homelessness in raising awareness for the Brisbane Zero campaign to move more people into secure housing.

The 2016 census reported 5813 people were homeless in Brisbane at any given time and with a rising unemployment rate, the numbers are projected to get worse.

Brisbane Zero is the sister program to campaigns around the world that are using real time data and combining the resources of agencies on the ground to push towards have zero people homeless on the streets. 

The hackathon wasn’t what they had in mind when Zeroseven first approached Micah Projects.

“Before Covid-19 came along we were looking at ways we could be more involved in the Brisbane community and how we could volunteer our time and energy.   I thought it might do the team some good to get up from their desks and physically help with one of the many projects Micah are involved with, but when we asked how we could help they said they didn’t need people to pack boxes, they actually needed someone to help build a platform – so, although it meant we are back at our desks, it’s actually the perfect fit and probably where we can give the most benefit.” said Chris Thompson, Technical Lead and Managing Director of Zeroseven.

Zeroseven and Micah Projects have lined up the collaboration to take place during Homelessness Week with the majority of the work being done in a two-day intensive hackathon type event starting Friday 7 August. 

Zeroseven is donating the whole team’s time to the project on Friday and team members are volunteering their own time on Saturday.

For Brisbane Alliance to End Homelessness this is a part of a bigger play to end homelessness in the city. The initiative was formed following the successful conclusion of the 500 Lives 500 Homes campaign, which saw a coalition of over 30 government and non-government agencies in Brisbane successfully house 580 individuals and families over a period of three years. 

The success of the 500 Lives 500 Homes campaign demonstrated that homelessness is not inevitable, Housing First principles work in the Brisbane environment, and there is great power in organisations working together to deliver a coordinated approach to ending homelessness.

Find out more about BAEH here and follow the hackathon live on Zeroseven socials from 7 and 8 August.