Outsmarting homelessness is no easy feat. Being innovative isn’t necessarily enough, it’s about changing the way homelessness is viewed and that the root of the problem is not being without a home. As Alan Graham stated, the issue of homelessness is rooted in a “profound catastrophic loss of family, housing will never solve homelessness, but community will.” Which is what inspired Graham to create Community First! Village, a housing development that provides affordable housing with a community mindset.

Kerry O’Connor, the Chief Innovation Office for the City of Austin, is focused on bringing the right innovations into play how the city approaches this issue. “I’m proud to say Austin, Texas is starting to do the right thing by its homeless population.” There is still a need within every city to understand how homelessness came about and what this systemic racism has propelled the issue forward. Regardless of race, the only way homelessness will be solved is through people associating with other people who have different experiences from them. And how we think about the resources of our technology or design to solve for this.