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To the Editor:
“Every person experiencing homelessness needs a smartphone,” said Laurie, a social worker from Miami. If we want to achieve functional zero homelessness, the overlooked step is to provide unhoused people digital access to resources like shelter locations, housing assistance, and job applications.
Digital access has become essential to surviving in the modern world. Recent initiatives like Miami Connected help narrow the digital divide in Miami-Dade County. But they have a blind spot: those without housing. This oversight further isolates unhoused people from society.
We all depend on technology to stay informed or navigate matters of our health, such as medical appointments and checking the test results.
“All different types of benefits, all different types of services… all of these things happen… through electronic communication,” said Laurie.
Here in South Florida everyone must check the weather app at least during the hurricane season. For the unsheltered population, lack of digital access decapitates their chance for shelter and safety.
In Miami-Dade County there are 3,440 unsheltered people, along with a suspected 14,000 juveniles, who are without stable housing. The county provides help in many forms, shelter, welfare, and job listings. But in order to access or even know about these opportunities, you need a working internet connection, or at least, a phone number. People who are unsheltered often don’t have access to a phone and most certainly, not a library card. After all, you need a residence to get one.
Only 55 percent of homeless people have regular access to the internet, and only 5.8 percent have the financial security for a monthly plan. There are many things we must do to solve the homelessness crisis. Giving unsheltered people access to smartphones is the biggest piece of the puzzle. Because digital access has never been a priority for the unsheltered, there is tremendous room for improvement. If we take small steps to combat the homeless crisis we will see the results. Giving smartphones to people who are unsheltered will give them greater independence.
This article, Subsidizing Isolation in a Global Pandemic, is concerned that giving smartphones to unsheltered people will perpetuate anti-social behavior and worsen the mental health crisis. Others worry about funding or wonder if free phones promote dependency. The idea that “the homeless” lack self-control using phones is elitist. Giving smartphones to people who are unsheltered will give them their independence, not shackle them.
If you, like 68 percent of Americans, have an old phone lying around in a drawer, you hold the solution. Why not help make our solution? Give that phone a second life, and someone a second chance. Below are three charities just a click away.
Instead of putting our old phones in the junk drawer, let us give connectivity to the most vulnerable.
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence gives phones to victims of domestic violence.
Salvation Army accepts phones.
911 cell phone bank which connects cell phones to victims needing 911.
Signed,
L. Koubi, D. Santos, K. Matias, M. Gomez
Florida International University (FIU) students
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