Austin Test Uses Blockchain to Protect The Homeless

on April 19, 2018 at 11:50 am

Governments and private organizations are seeking to put the blockchain to work solving some of our society’s biggest problems. Austin might have a technological solution. The Texas city is piloting a system that uses blockchain identifiers to safeguard the IDs and vital records of homeless people in a way that’s more accessible for service providers.

“If you have your backpack stolen or if your social security card gets wet and falls apart, or if you are camping and the city cleans up the site and takes your possessions, you have to start all over from the beginning again,” Sly Majid, Austin’s Cheif Services Officer told Tech Crunch. “It really prevents you from going about and doing the sort of activities that allow you to transition out of homelessness.”

The city is hoping that it will be able to use the blockchain as a replacement for paper records which can easily be stolen, lost, or destroyed. The hope is that the blockchain can provide a secure and safe way for aid workers to verify a person’s identity.

Above all, vital records on the blockchain could build over time, so different providers would know what services a person had used previously. Majid provided the example of health care, where it is crucially important to know the history of an individual. The idea is that, when a homeless person walks into a clinic, the blockchain would provide the entire patient history of that individual to the provider. “Here was your medical records from your last clinic visits, and we can build off the care that you were given last time,” he said.

Austin aims to use the technology can help solve the problem of homelessness, though Majid warned that the program is still in its infancy. Although, he is hopeful that the program will grow over time.