Local Government Innovation Hackathon on Homelessness and Rough Sleeping

Ready to hack for good?

If you are passionate about using your skills to tackle one of the most urgent problems facing our communities; homelessness and rough sleeping – read on!

We’re bringing together coders, creators, local government and central government colleagues, academics and more to co-create bold, tech-powered ideas that could change the lives of UK citizens.

Government Digital Service is launching a bold new phase in digital transformation. This is a departure from the past; the mandate provided by the Blueprint for Modern Digital Government establishes GDS as a digital centre for the whole of government, including local government. MHCLG is exploring opportunities to accelerate the responsible uptake of AI across local government, to drive efficiency, reduce costs and improve service quality.

Join us on 26th & 27th November in Birmingham for a two-day hackathon, where you will get the opportunity to work directly with experts across the sector to create solutions for homelessness and rough sleeping. Over the course of 48 hours, teams will collaborate and respond to challenge statements and explore digital solutions.

How does it work?

As part of the registration process, you will complete a short skills survey to help us better understand your expertise and interests. If you have any suggestions for challenge statements on the topic of homelessness and rough sleeping that might benefit from AI or data science, please feel free to include these.

If selected to attend, at the event we will put you in a collaborative team of individuals with different experience and skills. Whether you are a domain expert, product manager, service designer, developer, data practitioner, local government or central government professional, your knowledge and perspective will be valuable.

What to expect?

Building on our previous successful Local Government Innovation Hackathon in April on the theme of digital planning, participants can expect:

• Building real world working prototypes that could be used in local councils
• Collaboration with cross-disciplinary teams to explore real-world challenges
• Hearing from experts in homelessness, housing and public service delivery
• Connection with others to improve outcomes for vulnerable communities

Who should attend?

This hackathon is open to different skill levels and backgrounds including:

• Professionals with experience in homelessness, rough sleeping and temporary accommodation service delivery
• Data scientists and analysts
• UX/UI designers
• Developers and engineers
• Policy makers
• Digital innovators
• Anyone passionate about digital innovation in public services

We will prioritise applications from local government practitioners, but welcome applications from anyone who can bring expertise, creativity and enthusiasm to designing tools for local government for rough sleeping and temporary accommodation.

Register now

Spaces are limited, so register your interest today and be part of a community working to address one of society’s most urgent challenges. Please note registration does not guarantee your place, we will be in touch in due course to confirm whether you have been successful and are invited to attend.

Privacy Notice

We take your privacy seriously. Your responses on registration will remain confidential and will only be used for the purposes of organising the event.

The information you provide, including your department, will help us understand the diverse perspectives from different sectors and ensure effective team compositions.

Your comments may be shared with senior leaders and relevant teams involved in the hackathon to illustrate how participant insights have informed our planning and facilitation.

This privacy notice explains how we handle the data collected from you and how it will be used.

If you have any questions about the event please contact Georgina Blackhurst at [email protected]

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Host or Publisher Engineering Excellence - CDDO