Innovative Shelter Ready App Expanding Countywide
San Diego County District Attorney Summer Stephan announced today the regional expansion of her office’s Shelter Ready app, an innovative technology solution that connects people experiencing homelessness to emergency shelter in real time. The launch event, held at the County Operations Center, brought together more than 200 stakeholders representing 89 agencies or organizations from across the region, including service providers, public officials, law enforcement and nonprofit leaders.
Shelter Ready is a transparent and efficient platform that helps frontline workers quickly locate and refer unsheltered individuals to appropriate shelter beds. It was developed in partnership with a national technology nonprofit and informed by input from dozens of San Diego County agencies. Over the past several months, the app has been piloted successfully in the North County with several local organizations and is now being made available countywide—at no cost—through leadership from the DA’s Office. [WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE HERE]
“This regional launch of Shelter Ready is a major step forward in creating a transparent, accountable, compassionate, and efficient solution to match an individual suffering from homelessness with a suitable emergency shelter,” DA Stephan said. “With Shelter Ready, we are equipping our partners with a powerful tool to reduce time consuming barriers and provide life changing assistance to people in crisis. This technology is one key piece of the puzzle to bring hope, dignity, and real time solutions to a complex public health and public safety crisis that is intrinsic to homelessness. I believe it will become a model for the state of California and the nation. It’s our call to action that this free app will be used by every entity that is sincerely committed to ending the suffering of unsheltered human beings in our region.”
Today’s event also provided an update on the DA’s Three Point Plan to address the intersection of homelessness, behavioral health, and criminal justice—an initiative originally introduced by DA Stephan in 2022. The Shelter Ready app regionalization represents the fulfillment of a key goal from that plan: expanding the use of technology to support unsheltered populations, building on a model that previously helped victims of domestic violence and human trafficking find shelter in minutes rather than days. Three years of District Attorney data shows that individuals who are experiencing homelessness become involved with the justice system as victims and perpetrators at dramatically higher rates than the rest of the population, as well as a higher rate of overdose deaths.
“The most common question people ask when experiencing homelessness is, ‘Where can I go for help?’ And there’s nothing more frontline workers want than to help,” said Tamera Kohler, CEO of the Regional Task Force on Homelessness. “So, it’s incredibly timely to have an app to help connect people to services they need, including finding a shelter bed. This has been a real challenge, but that’s a little easier now thanks to this innovative technology, which provides valuable real-time information frontline workers need to connect to services quickly.”
Attendees witnessed a live demonstration of the app and heard from organizations that have participated in the pilot phase and are already using Shelter Ready in the field. The platform was built specifically for the San Diego region and shaped by feedback from local stakeholders.
One of the organizations that has partnered with the DA’s Office in testing and developing the Shelter Ready app for the past several months is the San Diego Rescue Mission’s North County Lighthouse.
“The San Diego Rescue Mission (SDRM) has been honored to participate with the DA’s Office to utilize and evaluate this unique technology that is a game changer when it comes to providing homeless services,” said Donnie Dee, San Diego Rescue Mission CEO. “The Shelter Ready platform is clearly a tool that can be essential for all shelter providers in the county. Since using Shelter Ready, we’ve seen stronger collaboration and communication between shelter providers and our outreach workers. The result has been a more efficient and effective process in helping people experiencing homelessness find the right shelter for them at the right time.”
The Shelter Ready app stems from a larger effort that began in 2018, when DA Stephan convened regional symposiums to tackle the intersection of mental health, homelessness, and the justice system. The 2019 Blueprint for Mental Health Reform and subsequent Three Point Plan have since guided local reforms and partnerships focused on creating long-term, system-wide change.
“Having awareness of available resources for people experiencing homelessness is essential to making the right connections,” said Dr. Kimberly Giardina, Deputy Chief Administrative Officer for the County Health and Human Services Agency. “As usage of this new app expands regionally, we look forward to working with the District Attorney and other providers to maximize transparency and connections to accessible resources.”
The most recent Point-in-Time Count, conducted in January 2025 by the Regional Task Force on Homelessness, reported 9,905 individuals experiencing homelessness in San Diego County with 5,714 of those individuals identified as being unsheltered. [WATCH NEWS CONFERENCE HERE]
