Inspiration Corporation saw the ability to work remotely as vital for productivity and efficacy of Housing Services program staff. With offices located on the North side of Chicago and most housing units in the program situated on the South and West sides, staff spent considerable time travelling between participants and returning to the agency’s offices to work and ensure the protection of sensitive participant data. They recognized the need for better mobile technology to support their staff, make better use of their agency resources, and provide the best care during home visits.

The Thierer Family Foundation provided support and guidance to Inspiration Corporation as it made the transition to a mobile technology infrastructure. The organization was able to equip the housing staff with Microsoft Surface Pro tablets, sync them with the agency network, and install the Microsoft Office suite and other apps, including a camera app that doubled as a scanner. This allowed staff to securely access the internet during home visits, complete documentation, help participants apply for benefits and access community resources, and very importantly, eliminate the need to travel with sensitive documents.

Staff is now able to spend more time providing support and significantly less time traveling between participant households and the organization offices. They are also able to provide more effective case management by quickly providing referrals, responding more rapidly to emergency housing situations, keeping up-to-date case notes, engaging landlords, and researching new ways to help participants. Having reliable methods of emergency communication and navigation for housing staff as they conduct home visits has improve staff security outside the agency offices. By saving all this time, staff members can now focus on other agency initiatives to improve supportive care for participants and improve care for those experiencing homelessness by sharing resources with peer agencies.