HomeChaser: The Empty Property App Part 2

You can help turn empty buildings into affordable homes!

The first Create-a-thon event in August to find a tech solution to the housing crisis was a huge success, and a dedicated small team of #Winsiders4Good began the process of building the HomeChaser app in association with Dot Dot Dot Property.

HomeChaser is the first empty property app that crowdsources empty property data, helping to turn more empty buildings into affordable homes. Members of the public will be able to pin their location, along with a photo and some basic details about an empty building they see in their daily life. This will allow Dot Dot Dot to investigate, and turn some of those buildings into property guardian homes. All with an app!

The team were so committed to the app and supporting Dot Dot Dot that we came together again, inviting a wider audience to help take the app to the next stage of development.

The event was generously hosted by the University of West London in their fantastic new lecture hall. A passionate group of #Winsiders4Good attended for the day to share their skills and ideas.

Although there were some unavoidable technical issues along the way (which we don’t understand – coding is a whole other language!), the team made friends, progress and connections.

HomeChaser may not be a reality yet, but we are well on our way and excited about the potential. We hope the app will help us engage the public in the issues around empty properties and connect us with more buildings to house our fantastic volunteers.

This week’s top five micro-volunteering opportunities

1.Motor Neurone Disease Association 

Complete a SnapAction to help raise awareness of motor neurone disease (MND) on social media.

Share their infographic  on Facebook or re-tweet on Twitter. Don’t forget to include the hashtags #SnapAction and #MND

For more information, click here.

2.Johnson and Johnson 

You take a photo, they make it a way to do good.

For every photo you share through Donate a Photo, Johnson and Johnson gives $1 to a cause you want to help.

To find out more, click here.

3.Casserole Club

Casserole Club volunteers share extra portions of home-cooked food with people in their area who aren’t always able to cook for themselves. They share once a week, once a month, or whenever works best for them.

To find out more, see here.

4.CharityPush

CharityPush is a portal of free to install apps and games. Download the apps you want and for every one CharityPush donate money to various partner charities.

For more information, see here.

5.Postcard Happiness

Send postcards to others who could benefit from a posted note or a message.

To join in, click here.