An app that allows New Yorkers to donate to nonprofits working to support homeless people — without spending their own dime — is expanding to San Francisco. Using WeShelter, a passerby who spots a homeless person and wants to help can route a donation from a corporate sponsor to a local service organization. The user can also alert an outreach operator to help direct assistance to an individual on the street.
The app launched in New York last year, and recently surpassed 150,000 contributions. The amount of each donation is unspecified and variable, but co-founder Ilya Lyashevsky told CityLab last June that it was about 5 cents per tap at that time. A press release announcing WeShelter’s expansion states that the app has raised “thousands of dollars” for its NYC homelessness agency partners, but does not specify an exact amount. WeShelter also announced this week a new partnership with real estate startup Roomi. For every listing on the site, Roomi will now donate $5 to WeShelter.
The creators of the app were responding to New York’s growing homeless population. San Francisco has an estimated 10,000 homeless residents. This week the San Francisco Chronicle and 70 other news organizations in the region have been focusing attention on the city’s crisis, in hopes of identifying solutions.
“Donations” through WeShelter in S.F. will benefit nonprofits Delivering Innovation in Supportive Housing (DISH) and Community Housing Partners. Roomi is also sponsoring the San Francisco campaign.
“WeShelter is an amazing resource for companies who want to help in this important cause,” said Ajay Yadav, Roomi’s founder and CEO. “We were very pleased to do our part in this enormous challenge.”
Jen Kinney is a freelance writer and documentary photographer. Her work has also appeared in Philadelphia Magazine, High Country News online, and the Anchorage Press. She is currently a student of radio production at the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies. See her work at jakinney.com.
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