Design of a Social Innovation Addressing People Experiencing Homelessness in Los Angeles, California

Over 46,000 people sleep on the streets each night in Los Angeles, California (LA). This number has increased in recent years and is expected to continue rising. Given this apparent crisis of unsheltered homelessness in the city, the purpose of this research was to develop a social innovation to provide services to people experiencing homelessness (PEH) in LA. The researcher followed a two-stage research methodology adapted from Bapat et al. (2023) framework for frugal engineering. In Stage #1, the researcher collected sources from different search engines relating to homelessness in LA, and coded them according to seven different themes to identify the current needs of the city’s PEH. In Stage #2, the researcher chose one theme, sanitation, and the claims that corresponded to it and used them to design a social innovation catering to design criteria set based on the research done by Dickinson et al. (2016), Bapat et al. (2023), and Wodiczko & Lurie (1988). Ultimately, the researcher designed an innovation called the “Liquid Lifeline,” which is a wearable water bladder equipped with straps for carrying, a water spout, and a straw. The researcher designed this product to cater to the water-related needs of unsheltered PEH in LA. Despite limitations to the research method regarding time and budgetary restraints and inherent subjectivity, the researcher feels confident that the “Liquid Lifeline,” if widely manufactured and distributed in LA, would be very successful in improving the quality of life of unsheltered PEH in the city.