Google to Provide Voicemail for Homeless

Using technology from GrandCentral, a recent start-up purchase, Google will provide homeless San Franciscans with their own phone numbers and voicemail to stay in touch.

When Google acquired the telecom start-up GrandCentral last summer, it soaked up the company’s philanthropic efforts right alongside its new technologies, including a plan called Project CARE to provide phone numbers to the homeless. Another piece of that plan came to fruition on Wednesday, when the mayor of San Francisco announced that Google would use GrandCentral to provide phone numbers and voicemail to homeless citizens across the entire city.

Since potential employers usually require telephone contact information, not having a home phone number can be a major barrier to employment for many homeless people, along with making them inaccessible to family, friends, social workers, health care providers. With Project CARE, those without home phone numbers will be able to visit homeless shelters and set up and accounts for free, receiving both a dedicated phone number and a voicemail account.

Google partnered with Project Homeless Connect to make the program happen. Although only San Francisco homeless shelters are currently able to set up accounts, the company eventually hopes to push the service nationwide.