Shelter Exchange: Supporting Unhoused Citizens Through Data
Improving Coordination, Efficiency, and Service
The provincial government’s Housing First approach aims to quickly find permanent housing for unhoused Albertans while connecting them with supports that move them towards greater self-reliance. To accomplish this, the province relies on accurate and timely data to make decisions about how to allocate funds and respond to sudden increases in demand for overnight shelters (like the displacement of people due to wildfires in Alberta and other provinces).
It can be difficult to access reliable and consistent data, with each shelter provider collecting data differently, ranging from pen and paper logs to collaborative digital tools. There are also distinctions in policies on how to determine occupancy and capacity. For administrative staff, these differences resulted in 4 hours of work every morning to aggregate the data from providers across the province into a single spreadsheet. If the staff didn’t report numbers on time, that created even more challenges and data gaps.
To alleviate the demands on front-line staff and to meet the needs of program administrators, J5 worked with the Ministry of Technology and Innovation to design Shelter Exchange, a digital service that allows shelter staff to report occupancy and capacity data from anywhere, including from the shelter floor.
INDUSTRY
Government
CLIENT
Government of Alberta
WHY IT MATTERS
Access to safe shelter is a human right, yet the systems that support this work are often fragmented and overburdened. By applying a service design approach, we helped bridge gaps between government teams and shelter providers, creating a more human-centred, data-informed way of working. Shelter Exchange demonstrates how thoughtful digital design can reduce administrative burden, build trust in shared information, and ultimately enable faster, more coordinated responses during moments of crisis. When technology is designed collaboratively, it doesn’t just streamline reporting, it strengthens relationships and amplifies impact across the housing system.
PROCESS HIGHLIGHTS
The collaborative and co-creative approach to service design built trust between Program Advisors, generating excitement for a different way of working.
Impact
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User Level
More unhoused people are being housed in shelters because of an improved coordination between shelters when one or more is experiencing capacity issues.
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Employee Level
Program Advisors workload has been reduced by 70% and they can understand very quickly what is happening in Shelters and when a problem arises.
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Organizational Level
All 24 service providers are accurately reporting capacity across 46 shelters (100% adoption) using a shared definition of occupancy and capacity.
Increased accountability for money transferred from the organization to shelters.
