Techies In Residence Projects Create Impact in the Homeless Sector 

11 Oct 2019

Techies in Residence an innovative Community Foundation programme which matches local charities and social enterprises with digital technology partners is creating an impact in our community.  

Six collaborations completing this years programme came together to pitch for additional seed funding, generously donated by Bank of Ireland to  develop their prototypes. At an event in June, the audience decided which projects should be awarded funding and PPR (Participation & the Practise of Rights) was awarded £5,000 to develop their ‘Housing Rights Watch” app.  The app allows members of the public to directly apply to the Housing Executive Chief Executive for official homeless status utilising their formal complaints process and has been developed in response to an increasing volume of homeless people who are without official Full Duty Applicant Status. 

Marissa Mc Mahon is an organiser with human rights organisation PPR,  commented “Since launching the app we have supported nineteen homeless people who were denied official homeless status until we intervened. They are the tip of the iceberg. Many more homeless people have no support at all and will spend weeks, months and years in hostels waiting for recognition. In the meantime Housing Rights Watch will be rolling out in hostels providing support to homeless people to claim their rights.”

Congratulations also go to Foyle Parents & Friends Association and Centred Soul who received £10,000 each and these groups are currently working on their projects to bring about social change in their community. 

Northern Ireland has a well established and growing technology sector. We also have a dynamic Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector (VCSE) tackling challenging social issues in our community and through collaboration the Techies In Residence combines cutting edge tech and social know how to tackle complex social problems and increase social impact. 

Paul Braithwaite, the Community Foundation’s Head of Innovation & Voice said:  

“The credibility and momentum that PPR Techies in Residence project is having in the housing sector is phenomenal. This project clearly demonstrates that there is an ongoing need for tech for good projects. It gives social enterprises and charities a platform to look at issues in a new way and apply an end user focused methodology to solving them and in PPR case this is proving to be a successful method. The programme is funded by Comic Relief and delivered by Innovate NI and put simply – it’s about Tech for Good – making a direct impact on people’s lives”  

Meet the groups involved in Techies In Residence this year in the video below >>